Take My Hand, Take My Heart
by bibliophile609
Summary: When fraternal twins Prince Liam and Prince Noah turn 19, they expect to find out who is the Heir. Instead, they find out about something much bigger- a double Selection. Forty girls will be Selected making it an even twenty for each prince. And to make the stakes bigger, one prince will not only win the girl of his dreams, but also the throne. *Formerly Selecting A Wild Heart*
1. A Tale of Two Brothers

.o0*0o.

 _Don't know what's down this road_

 _I'm just walking_

"A Place in this World", Taylor Swift

.o0*0o.

Prince Liam Illea was waiting outside the oak doors of his father's office when he smelt the mixture of cologne and alcohol. Not even a few seconds later, his brother came around the hallway corner. Noah's brown hair was wild and unruly, showing that he had just rolled out of bed, or that he had hair products that were wasted to create the effect. His fraternal twin gave him a once over before asking, "Did somebody die, Liam?" He came closer and mimicked his serious stance. Liam took a look at Noah before their father's butler opened the door. He had shadows under his eyes, and a light scruff where he had not shaved. All together, he looked like a hot mess. Just as Liam wanted to comment, Noah said, "Don't", and the doors swung open.

Inside was a sight that was not that strange nowadays in the palace. Their father was staring at the portrait of their mother, and the deceased Queen Kathleen, while his second wife, Queen Eleanor, was at his side discussing a matter in a quiet voice. What seemed not right this time, however, was that Eleanor seemed agitated. She was making large hand gestures as their father continued looking ahead. Only snippets carried across the room, "not old enough... beloved tradition... the ruler...". Liam tightened his hands behind his back as Noah smirked. It was easy to guess that their father and stepmother were discussing having a Selection for the Crown Prince of Illea. Maybe it was time they would learn which twin was born first, a piece of information that had never been released to them. After all, the two had been brought up as equals, both fit to rule their beloved country.

Nervous of their father finding out that they had eavesdropped, Liam cleared his throat. King Andrew Illea turned around and looked at his eldest children. He looked tired, this sharpened by his dark hair with lines of gray and the wrinkles on his otherwise rough face. Even though he looked this way, he smiled at them and motioned with an envelope in his hands for them to enter. They took their seats on the opposite side of him and his desk. Liam noted in the back of his mind that Eleanor had stayed where she was. If it had upset their stepmother this much, Liam had a feeling that he wouldn't like what was coming next. Dread built in his stomach as he thought of their father leaning his teepeed hand in front of him as he announced that Noah was the heir. He would dismiss Liam as his twin and father started discussing details of Noah's Selection. That had to be the only thing that could stress their father this much- the Playboy Prince Noah as the next king.

Whatever he had been thinking of occurring went away as his father said, "This is not about who inherits the throne." Liam slowly released a breath of relief. Though it was cruel, and he cared for his brother, Noah would be the worst King Illea had ever had. The nickname from the press was wildly accurate as Noah cared more for which girl he would take advantage of than the fact that there was a 21% homeless rate in their province of Angeles. He had always slept during their lessons, something that irked Liam. How could he not care that he could be the King? To prove his point, Noah laughed and told their father, "You mean it doesn't go to me by default?"

King Andrew shot his son a silencing glance as he picked up the latest family photo on his desk. There was him, flanked on each side by Noah and Liam, with Eleanor, Poppy in her lap, and the twin princesses, Sidney and Willow, sitting on a couch in front of them. On the ground in front of the Queen and Princesses was the to-be British Crown Princess and their oldest sister Adelaide sat with the younger princes Mason and Ethan. The King smiled as his finger brushed over Adelaide, as she would be leaving after her eighteenth birthday to fulfill the engagement to the British Crown Prince Aaron. When Eleanor spoke from the back about continuing, the King set it down.

"Sons, I know you want to know who the Heir is. However, I am not sure yet if that is wisest. You both are just over nineteen, neither one ready for the responsibilities of a king. So here is what will happen. We as the Royal Family of Illea are hosting a double Selection of sorts. There will be 40 girls chosen- 35 from a single province, and then five girls at random. Now, you will not talk to any of them until after the first Report, on which they will draw a name- either yours, Liam, or yours, Noah. Whoever that girl draws will be who she is competing for, and if one, for example, draws Noah but pursues Liam, she will automatically sent home and tried for treason, depending on the severity of it." The twins took a moment to breathe and looked at each other. So they wouldn't find out who would get the crown, but they would have to pick their wife?

Before the King could continue, Liam surprised him by asking, "When will the forms be sent out and collected?"

The King gave them a smile as he stood up. "Thank you for asking, Liam. I knew I could count on you to do what was needed. As for your question, the forms were sent to every province yesterday. After tonight's special Report, they will be distributed to every girl between the ages of 16-19 and in a caste above a 5. They drawings will be on the Tuesday after next. Now, if you'll please leave, me and Eleanor have preparations to discuss." Before Liam could respond, Noah had him by the arm in the hallway. He dragged Liam to an old secret room the two had used as a hideout as children. He released Liam and then started pacing.

"Liam, this cannot happen. There cannot be a Selection." As he paced, Noah loosened his tie. Liam relaxed onto the couch where he was as his carefree brother freaked out. "I mean, how does he expect me to find my lifetime wife from a group of twenty girls? I have gone through twenty girls within one week! This cannot end well." Liam snorted at his twin and waited for the rant to be over. He needed to get to his room to think this through, or better, talk to Addie. His little sister knew how to help him sort through his thoughts. However, it seemed that Noah felt that way about Liam as he opened up his shriveled heart. "I'm not ready for marriage! As he pointed out, I'm nineteen!"

Liam tried to be helpful after that, but even he grew tired of his brother. He stood, gave Noah parting advice of, "Who knows, Noah. You might find a girl who doesn't mind a promiscuous husband so long as she has a crown," and he went to his little sister. He knocked on her door and one of her handmaids opened up to him. Behind the maid was absolute chaos. Adelaide and the other two maids were pulling clothes out as well as makeups and accessories. He leaned against the wall and watched as Addie tripped over the dress she had been moving and fell into a pile of fluff. Liam laughed at her before moving to help her up. "Addie, Addie, Addie. What are you doing?"

Addie looked at him before going back to her mess. "I'm packing, Liam," she told him from around a stack of heels. "Aaron has invited me to spend a month there so that I may grow accustomed to British court before the wedding. And I have accepted. I'm leaving early tomorrow morning." Liam sighed as he picked up a stray necklace. He loved his sister, yet he couldn't understand how she had accepted the engagement to the British Prince so well. Before she was told who it was to, she had protested loudly that she did not want to be wed. Then, low and behold, she accepted it upon hearing Aaron's name. Liam knew that Aaron had been to the Illean palace before, but he could not place the man who would be taking Addie away from home.

Feeling even more down when he realized she would be gone for the beginning of the Selection, he tried smiling as he said, "Is that why you're accepting? To see the British court or to spend alone time with the British Prince?"

Addie blushed pink s she realized what he had implied. "Liam James Illea, I am almost a grown woman. My motives are none of your business. Now, will you help me close this suitcase?" She pointed at an overstuffed suitcase sitting on the edge of her bed, and he obliged. Once it was closed, he told her, "Adelaide Charlotte Illea, I am your big brother. I am always going to be questioning your motives and defending your honor. So, tell me why you have decided to leave your big brother in his time of need?"

His sister gave him a look as her maids packed the glittering jewels Addie would be taking. "What do you mean your time of need?" After he recounted the visit to their father's office, Addie whacked him upside the head. "You big baby! It's nothing more than dating multiple girls at the same time, not planning a war. Plus, those poor Selected will be begging to draw your name after seeing Noah in real life and not on screen." Liam smiled as his sister exaggerated. She knew just as well as him that Noah was considered the more handsome twin, the Playboy Prince, whereas Liam was simply the People's Prince. He would be lucky if just one of the forty girls liked him.

He kissed the top of his sister's head as he thought about the upcoming future. In less than a fortnight, he would see the face of his future wife, and possibly his Queen. In less than four months, his sister would be the Crown Princess of the British Empire and married. Within the near years, he would either ascend to the throne or forever be the spare. Around the same time, Mason and the twins would probably be securing their own engagements to foreign countries. Not long after them, it would be Ethan and precious little Poppy would be a woman. Liam looked out Addie's windows, but it wasn't the view he sighed at. It was the future.

.o0*0o.


	2. A Royal Hot Mess

_Wasn't it beautiful when you believed in everything_  
 _And everybody believed in you?_

~"Innocent", Taylor Swift

.o0*0o.

The spring breeze came through the open balcony doors and woke Noah. He gently tried to untangle himself from the maid in his bed, but she woke up anyway. The sunshine from outside blinded him, and he felt the migraine begin its warpath. He took the aspirin left on his bedside table dry. The girl was picking her way across his room trying to find pieces of her uniform. He knew he should say something to her, but what would he say? _It was just a one night stand, Noah. That's all you deserve ever since Grace._ The thought of her face hurt worse than the migraine. He could still see it smiling, and then he remembered how she looked at him before she got on the doomed helicopter. If he could go back in time and tell her not to leave after that night, to stay in bed with him, he would in a second.

As it happened though, the love of his life died in a tragic helicopter accident, as the public were told. Yet, was it really an accident? Noah remembered the private meeting with King Andrew and Queen Eleanor that night. His eyes were red from all the tears, but his father's were steady as he said, "She is not your future, Noah. You have an obligation to your country to have a Selection. That tramp was just distracting you from what you should have been doing." It had burned to hear how his father thought of Grace, but when he shook the Russian Ambassador's hand and gave condolences on the man's daughter's death, Noah had been blind with rage. His father had orchestrated the crash, Noah was sure, and he shook her father's hand and said sorry?

After the accident, he did everything he could to anger his father. As a result, he lost Liam and Adelaide, who probably didn't even remember Grace now. They thought that Noah had just grown lazy, that he didn't want the crown, without knowing that the only thing he had ever wanted was killed by it. He squeezed his eyes shut and immediately stopped any tears from coming. He had to forget Grace, he knew, and mourning was not the answer.

Before the maid could leave, he asked her to stop. Terrified, the poor girl turned around, and he looked at her. She had pretty brown hair and blue eyes, so he could see why he had asked her to stay the night. Knowing it would haunt him if he didn't, Noah asked her, "What's your name?" Her eyes softened and she gave him the look that said, _How can you forget my name?_ but at the same time she probably saw it coming. Before she left the room but after she opened the door, he got his answer. It rang around in his mind a few times. It was a pretty name for a pretty girl, but he didn't want to have her family, if she even had any, have to identify her remains. That was what would happen if he gave her anymore attention.

He waited until the voice in his head quieted before he found the little book tucked underneath his mattress. In it, he jotted the name down next to the day. _Leslie Castle._

.o0*0o.

Liam looked as miserable as Noah felt when he walked into the family brunch that morning. His fraternal twin's hair wasn't in its usual combed back neat state. It was all over the place, and he seemed to be pushing his breakfast crepes around the plate. If Noah had to guess, Liam had probably stayed up all night firstly to spend time with Adelaide, and then crying after she left. Noah would make jokes about how unmanly it was for Liam to cry over their little sister, but Noah felt the sadness too. Adelaide had looked like a copy of their mother, and according to some of the older staff members, acted just like her. And even though it was only temporary this time, it would soon be permanent, and it would feel like losing their mom all over again. Determined not to let the ghost of sadness overtake him, Noah leaned over to Poppy and ruffled her adorable curls before taking his seat.

Along the table, Ethan was building something out of his waffles; Mason was busy writing something, most likely a letter to the French princess Amélie, while occasionally eating his Eggs Benedict; Liam was still pushing the crepes around, but Noah noted that they were Adelaide's usual favorite- raspberries and cream cheese filling; King Andrew was drinking his black coffee more then anything, and Noah smelt the whiskey in it; Queen Eleanor was drinking a mimosa with her fruit and cheese platter; Sidney and Willow were exchanging gossip about the latest celebrity scandal; and then there was Poppy, who seemed to be awfully bored as she ate her chocolate puffed rice cereal. Noah felt a kinship with the youngest princess as he watched his family all ignore each other, with the exception of the twins.

Deciding to bring some sort of entertainment to the meal, Noah turned to the King and asked, "Father, will there be any balls before the Selected arrive?" At his question, he heard forks and glasses being set down. Thought the announcement had aired last night, the only known details were held between the King and Queen. Even Sidney and Willow paused the gossip to listen in.

King Andrew took another sip of his coffee before answering, "There is a charity gala in three days time. Though Eleanor and I will not be attending, there was an RSVP reply sent for Liam, Mason, and you. We would have RSVP'd for Adelaide too, but she is preparing for her future in Britain." Noah nodded thoughtfully before picking up a bagel from the bread platter. While the twins begged him to let them attend, Noah tore at the bread. He would have preferred to decline, as charity galas were terribly boring, but Liam gently touched him.

Quietly, he leaned towards Noah and said, "Refusing to attend is just going to make things worse. Just think, Noah, all we'll have to do is show up, take a few photos, and most likely give interviews about how excited we are for our upcoming Selection. After that, you can drink some free liquor and find a pretty socialite or model or actress for the night. So don't cause trouble, Noah. You are going to anger him enough once he finds out you won't be serious about the Selection." Once Liam had finished his speech, Noah found that his bagel had been completely shredded. He took a drink of his orange juice before replying.

"Just because it's good for you, doesn't mean I care to obey." Noah then turned to the King, and took a chance by saying, "All of that sounds nice, Pops, but I have plans for that night." He stood from the table and threw the glass of orange juice at the opposite wall. It crashed and orange liquid was an ugly gash across the room. "I'm too busy being a disappointment to the crown, sorry," was his remark as Noah bounded across the room.

.o0*0o.

"Welcome, Illea, to our regularly scheduled showing of the _Illean Report._ I am your host, Cecily Schumer. Now, we all are buzzing to find out the exciting bit for tonight, but first, here are some security reports from across the nation. There have been minor rebellions concerning distribution of supplies in the North, but they have been quelled, thanks to our glorious King. The provinces of Honduragua has-" Noah zoned out during the first half of the Report. His waiting period had gone past. It was finally the night that they announced the Selected. He was oddly nervous, as he and Liam had been kept backstage until they went onstage with the names of the drawn girls.

Before long, they would be onstage, breaking the seals on forty envelopes to pull out a card with a name. Liam looked at his brother, and Noah looked back. They nodded once at each other before hitting their cue and walking onstage. Heavily lights tried melting the light foundation he had to wear for these stupid appearances. He didn't know how he made it to the podium besides Liam, but his twin's presence steadied him. Putting on a smile, Noah waited as Liam gave a speech on how proud they were to continued such a beloved tradition. When it was his turn, Noah reached for one of the two letter openers waiting. "Starting off the Selecting, the first girl is from Belcourt. Please congratulate Lady Halley Adaire."

Once he said her name, it was as if a calming presence enveloped him. He couldn't feel anything as he smiled and opened more envelopes alongside Liam. He smiled as if he wasn't troubled by how they were basically hoping that fate picked two decent girls for the both of them to marry. Now that he thought about, this Selection was a horrid idea. They could have drawn 40 psychopaths.

.o0*0o.

 _Please submit your form through a PM with the Selected's name as the subject. I must warn, however, that I will picking the characters accepted based on details and originality, as well as realism. Because I am choosing them, I will not create my own Selected. Good luck. (A copy of the form to copy and paste is available on my profile, as well as a list of what provinces are open.)_

 **Name:**

 **Age (16-19):  
**

 **Province:**

 **Caste (2-5) and Occupation:**

 **Physical appearance (Please be descriptive. The better you describe her, the greater chance that she'll be picked.):**

 **Personality (more than just** nice, loves horses, etc. etc. **I want quirks and things that makes someone unique):**

 **Hobbies and Talents:**

 **History/Backstory (Be descriptive. The better her backstory, the better her chapter will be if picked.):**

 **Family (Be descriptive. The better you explain her family/friends, the greater her chapter will be if picked.):**

 **Past relationships:**

 **Which Prince does she want to draw, and why?:**

 **Maids (please describe 3):**

 **Thoughts/Feelings on each Royal Family member:**

 **King Andrew-**

 **Queen Kathleen-**

 **Queen Eleanor-**

 **Prince Liam-**

 **Prince Noah-**

 **Princess Adelaide-**

 **The Younger Siblings (Mason, Sidney, Willow, Ethan, and Poppy)-**


	3. Some Champagne and Some Bruises

_All I know is a simple name, everything has changed._

~"Everything Has Changed", Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran

.o0*0o.

Thea Elise Tate was having the time of her short eighteen year old life. She was at Callum's house, a glass of champagne from his parent's liquor cabinet in hand. Gathered around her, spread along the sofas and all over the soft carpet, were her friends. Though those gathered around her were all drunk on the thought of sneaking out on a school night for them to party, Thea simply reveled in being around other people. Ever since she wrote her first book, _A Court of Thorns and Roses_ , at 14, she had been treated differently than her peers. Of course, the book and it's sequel _A Court of Mist and Fury_ went major revisions after she graduated early at 16 and grew lonely at home. When her friends were learning about calculus and the history of Illea, she had been typing away at her laptop to fix things that had seem cool at 14 and to make it more romantic for her older age. Well, it turns out that if you combine fairy tales with actual fairies and add hot guys, you can sell your story for a nice chunk of change as Thea learned last year. The first book had been released a little under a month ago, and though her friends had cheered, she sometimes felt at these parties like she didn't belong anymore.

To drown that feeling, Thea drank some more champagne. The _Report_ would be starting soon, and after her friends cheered for one of the girls being Selected, or booed at the poor girl who was, she could go home and check on Scott. It was hard to leave him for these stupid gatherings, but she needed to keep up appearances. She had been escaping to her friend's houses and school all her life, yet it only slowed down a bit when her brother was born six years ago. Only Callum knew why she did it, and he loved Scott as much as she did. Even when they "dated" they took little baby Scott with them.

Her feelings weren't going down as easy as the champagne. Thea wanted so badly to be with Scott right now, but she needed her friends for the announcement tonight. She hadn't told anybody, not even Callum, about what her father threatened if she didn't enter the Selection. In turn, nobody outside of her household even knew she entered. All of her friends thought that Thea was just there for free booze and a chance to see old friends, not even guessing it was so that she wouldn't cry in relief when she didn't get Selected. As she thought this, the TV screen flared to life with the Illean King's seal. Her friends all quieted down as they saw the show start, and as they realized it would be longer until the Selecting, they started talking again.

Thea smiled into her cup and went back to maintaining her appearance of utter boredom. Just as she suspected, Callum made his way to her after she did this. He must have sensed that she wasn't bored as her oldest and closest friend. He came towards her with a fresh cup of the bubbly with a small plate of finger foods. She smiled as he passed them to her and told Thea, "The champagne is for your mood. The food is for the hangover you'll get if you don't slow down on the champagne."

She giggled as she tried to eat the mini sausage links and he told her nothing and everything to distract her from the television. By the time Thea glanced over at the screen, she realized that everybody around her had quieted. The Princes of Illea were on and it was their time to announce the Selected. Prince Noah started with, "Starting off the Selecting, the first girl is from Belcourt. Please congratulate Lady Halley Adaire." On the screen, the princes switched turns talking as they announced more names. Deciding that the Selection could be inspiration for her next book, Thea paid attention to the girls as they flashed on her television.

She started with the girl just announced, Imogen Hawthorne from Lakedon. She was pretty in a way, Thea guessed. She had caramel waves that fell in waves around her broad shoulders in the picture. Her blue-gray eyes were wide open, free of any kind of makeup unlike Thea's own. She had that button nose that was all the rage across celebrity gossip magazines. She noticed that on the bottom of the screen that she was an astronomy student as Callum whispered in her ear, "You're much prettier, Thea. If these previous girls are any indication, there is no way that the winners will be called 'The Most Beautiful Girls in Illea', not with you living in the country."

Thea let the light blush fall from her cheeks with the next girl's announcement. She looked familiar as a prince called out, "Miss Annika Walsh from Carolina." The girl had gorgeous light brown hair and wide hazel eyes. Her tan was one that looked completely natural, and her freckles across her nose suited her, much like Thea's own small spattering across her nose. Just as she must have figured that the girl had to be a model she had seen before, it flashed across the bottom that Annika had recently won gold in the past year's International Deity Games 500 meter and silver in another track event. It hit her as she whispered to Callum, "Isn't this that girl who was, like, really famous for about two months last year?"

Callum nodded and whispered to her, "She was the youngest person to ever win gold in any track event, let alone one and silver in another." Thea nodded but she cast her eyes toward her slowly being emptied champagne glass. When she looked up, she had already missed two more girls. When she glanced up, identical eyes met hers. By the time the name was called and her champagne hit the floor, Thea was already rushing home. She wasn't even in the door before ran up to her and squealed, "Tia, you were on TV! Mommy said that you got picked for something special!"

Thea looked up at her mom's eyes and as she nodded back at her daughter, Thea collapsed with Scott. She had been Selected, she thought through tears.

.o0*0o.

Faylinn Circus was in tears as well.

She had been in the big tent warming up to practice her trapeze act and talking to her older brother Aidan. Despite her father's demands, she had been slow to stretch before she took to the air. She had stayed on the ground with Aidan, discussing how he could try to make a name for himself, hoping that it would be enough for him to go to another circus. She had just gotten up to go to her perch in the sky when she saw her father come up to her. In that moment, she started walking faster to her ladder. She only made it within two yards before her father caught up to her and slapped Faylinn. She cried out in surprise and held her sore cheek. Confused, she called out, "Papa, what was that for? I swear I was heading up to practice like you told me."

"Stupid girl," he spat at her. Faylinn noticed Aidan stand from where they had been sitting, but she knew he wouldn't intervene if her father continued hitting her. She knew because it had happened many times before. She turned back to her father as he painfully grabbed her left wrist. "Practice means nothing if you're betraying your family." At Faylinn's confused questioning, he told her, "You honestly thought your mother and I wouldn't find out you had been Selected?" At this sentence, Faylinn let out a breath of relief. If she really had been selected, that meant that she would finally get to leave this mess of a family. And, more importantly, she would improve her caste just by going to Angeles to meet Prince Liam and Prince Noah.

Holding onto her courage, Faylinn yanked her wrist out of her father's grasp. While she, Cordelia, and Aidan knew about her submitting the form, she still needed to play stupid with her parents. "Papa, I have no idea what you're talking about. I never submitted a form. I obeyed you and threw away the hope that I would even get a form. After all, everybody in Dakota knows that only a few girls were even sent forms. I wasn't one, I swear, Papa." She swallowed the "Just kidding, you horrible person. I would do anything to get away from you." that had been on it's way. She needed to avoid her father's outright violence until she was away from home. She would already need to hide the bruises forming on her cheek and wrist. While she would had to absolutely get away from this circus, and her abusive parents, having an investigator check them out while she was in the Selection would be pointless. Her father would find a way to make the suspicions go away and then he would punish her siblings in her stead. And if there was any talent that Faylinn had possessed since birth, it was avoiding causing trouble.

Smiling, she walked past her father and started up her latter. As she went up, she called down to him, "Papa, I doubt that I could be Selected. But if I am, think of how many people will now want to come see 'That Selected Girl's family circus'. This could be the boost in sales that we needed." She smiled down at him once she reached her perch. She proceeded to do safety checks on her swings and general fidgets until her father left the big tent. She grabbed onto her bar, jumped off the perch, and let go of the bar to flip down to the ground in front of Aidan.

Breathless and with a real smile, Faylinn clutched her brother in a hug. She let out tears of relief, not pain this time, and told him, "Aidan, this is just what we needed. I'm Selected, which means that I'm famous, and so are my family members now. Even if I only make it to the first round of eliminations, every circus who might have been hesitant to take you will know who you are. You'll be able to leave, and so will everybody else. Harold and Teressa can start their own troupe, and Daisy and Cordelia can be normal teenage girls. They don't have to worry about everybody who tries to get close being hurt by our parents again. This is perfect, Aidan. You could apply for guardianship of them."

Aidan pulled back from her hug a bit to look at his sister again. "Faylinn, you realize that you're only seventeen, right? It could be possible for them to revoke your Selection if anybody revealed how our parents didn't consent to your entry." Faylinn laughed at his worry, however, her brother wasn't done. "Faylinn, think about it, please. Somebody from Angeles is probably going to come grab you, and Papa is going to tell them all about how you never entered."

Faylinn dropped her smile but not her hold on her brother. "Aidan, everything is going to work out. I don't think they can revoke being Selected, not now that it's been broadcaster all over the country, and possibly overseas. It would be a PR nightmare for the palace if they did. It's easier for them to hold me and then send me back home with the first batch. But even if that happens, I'll have money and fame to my name, plus a caste of Three. Like you said, I'm seventeen. That's old enough in Illea to hold a bank account in your own name, so Papa and Mama won't ever see a cent of my Selection money."

Aidan nodded and let go of Faylinn, telling her, "In the meantime, you need to make it look like you have no intent on leaving the circus anytime soon. You'll need to continue practicing new flips, and seen meek at meals." Faylinn nodded as he started walking to the menagerie, where he worked as the beast master. She turned around once he left the tent and started laughing. She would be leaving this circus, Dakota, her horrible life, and every bad memory. The Selection was the best thing to happen to her already and it hadn't even began yet.

.o0*0o.

 **Hey everybody! So first off, I would like to acknowledge that Thea's books,** _A Court of Thorns and Roses_ **and** _A Court of Mist and Fury_ **belong to Sarah J. Maas, the actual author of one of my favorite books and it's killing-me-to-wait-for-the-release sequel. Next, thank you to** MissAmeliaYoung **and** Swag Giraffe **for submitting these two kick butt characters, respectively. I can already tell that I'm going to love these two girls, both survivors, with abusive parents in different ways and a brother they adore, yet who still have two totally different perspectives, castes, personalities, etc.**

 **To new readers, please keep submitting! As I type this, there are still 25 open spots, and I love seeing what kinds of girls you submit.**

 **In the end, thank you to my**

 **followers:** 4Love4Love4, Headless Gummy Bear, MissAmeliaYoung, Swag Giraffe, orangerosey32, and wolfofstark.

 **favoriters:** more . than . just . a . story and 4Love4Love4

 **and reviewers:** more . than . just . a . story  x2, UltimateMaxmericaShipper x2, 4Love4Love4, wolfofstark, MissAmeliaYoung x2, jenhen48 x2, and XOStarbrightXO x2.

 **xoxo, fivesauce'n'YAbooks**


	4. In Person and In Remix

_Another name goes up in lights, like diamonds in the sky_

 _And they'll tell you now, you're the lucky one_

~"The Lucky One", Taylor Swift

.o0*0o.

Marsden Marie Wallace was out of breath and loving every second of it.

"Faelynn," she called out, "give me a beat." Her drummer complied and started a simple beat as she sang out, "Hello, hello, baby, you called?/ I can't hear a thing/ I have got no service/ In the club, you say? say?/ Wha-wha-what did you say, huh?/ You're breakin' up on me/ Sorry I cannot hear you/ I'm kinda busy". As she sang the stupid lyrics, Marsden swung her hips and danced across the stage. She knew that she was a horrible singer, and that her caste utterly ruined her, but she was having so much fun. Once she finished the lyrics that came to mind, Marsden dropped her microphone. She smiled at Trick as the other girl and keyboardist of her band, Marsden's Band, told everybody goodnight.

She gave the audience another kiss before making her way to the bar in her punk crop top. Her pink dolphin belly button ring sparkled from below the torn edge yet above the top edge of her severely destroyed shorts and black tights combo. She brushed her fingers through the dark purple hair at the back of her head and shook out the waves. Though it wasn't very long, short in the back and only slightly longer going towards the front of her face, Marsden adored her unique hairdo. It matched her one-in-a-million personality, or at least she thought so.

As she made her way towards the bartender, Marsden brushed against fans of her band. She joked with a few and teased the guys, all feeling like she was out of this world. When she brushed against one guy, she leaned close enough to kiss him and asked, "Well aren't you going to buy me a drink?" She said it with a smirk on her face, knowing very well that this guy knew she was joking. Still, he took her hand and led Marsden to where the bartender, an old friend of her father's, had a sweating glass of fizzy lemonade. She took it gratefully as the guy introduced himself. She laughed but knew that she wouldn't remember him. From the way he held himself, Marsden knew that Jack had to be a Two looking for a night of fun with a lower caste.

The fact did not disturb Marsden as she herself just wanted fun. Smiling, Marsden stated, "What brings an upper caste like yourself into our small dive bar?"

Jack ordered himself a drink and waited for it to arrive before he replied, "I found out earlier that my fiancee entered the Selection. She told me that she loved me and all, but that if she had a chance with a Prince, she was going to take it."

Marsden scrunched up her face and told him, "Yikes. Engagement, sounds horrible. I could never imagine wanting to spend forever with someone." And in all honesty, she really couldn't. All of her friends knew just how bad Marsden was at anything with a long-term commitment. Pets disliked that she forgot to feed them, people felt unloved, and she was scared of promising a future she didn't see clearly. Not wanting to seem rude, however, she added on, "But I'm not most people, so don't take my word on engagement being horrible. I am after all pringle, which is like single but hungry. Anyways, tell me about her."

"Well, Marsden," he told her after a drink, "Astrid was the love of my life. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, plus she had freckles in the summer. She was serious, focused, and so incredibly driven to improve her future. And she left me for a stupid competition that she probably won't be picked for anyways."

Marsden took another drink before asking him, "So does that mean you'll think I'm stupid for entering the Selection? Because if that's the case, I might just have to go talk with somebody else." She had heard the bitter note in his voice at the last sentence and figured she had better ask him now. After all, if her hated the Selection so much, maybe she oughtn't have mentioned the entry... Suddenly, Marsden realized she was nervous of what this stranger, this drinking buddy, thought of her.

Jack jokingly thought on it for a minute before answering, "As long as you don't have a boyfriend or fiancee or something that you're leaving, that is, you actually are eligible, then be my guest. They are drawing tonight, I think."

The bartender walked over with a fresh lemonade and chimed in, "How about they're drawing right now?" He pointed to a TV above the bar and Marsden saw that he was right. On it, the Princes had just announced the first two or three names. Marsden shushed everybody in the bar and all looked to see who was going to represent their province. When it came time, it was Prince Liam who said, "Paloma has the joy of Miss Marsden Wallace as her Selected." Her jaw dropped as her photo, short hair pushed back to show her many piercings in both ears and the barbell through her eyebrow, flashed with other information she had provided.

Her drinking buddy was the first person in the bar to connect with reality. Jack raised his glass and toasted, "To the lovely Selected in our presence! To Marsden!" Much more quietly, he told her, "I told you Astrid wouldn't be Selected." Marsden smiled sheepishly as she refused to come to the same connection as everybody else. Just twenty minutes ago they had been cheering for a set gone well. Now they were cheering for her to lose her individuality and become the next Princess of Illea. Marsden shakily raised her drink with everybody else and took a big gulp when it came down. She couldn't even recall why she had entered.

With a scared smile, Marsden grabbed a bar napkin and had Jack write his address down on it. When he asked why, she told him, "I simply have to write you a letter once I'm there. Let you know so that you can hopefully pass it on to your once again fiancee Astrid all about the insider gossip. Plus, I don't really have any close friends to write to besides my dad or maybe my band." When he tried to deny her offer, she asked him, "Please, Jack? I have a feeling I'll need somebody on the outside that's not so excited for me to stay." He finally agreed and she seretly hoped that he wouldn't hate her after one or two letters. There was no sure way to tell, but maybe Jack could turn out to be as good of a friend as Kale was. Holding the napkin tight in her hand, Marsden turned as a celebratory party for her started.

.o0*0o.

Mia Millenia Shaugessy adjusted her headphones before she started listening to the song on her laptop.

It was slow and instrumental, completely haunting her. The artist was a girl she had seen in a bar once, and Mia had felt enchanted as she listened. Now, listening to the digital recording a second time, Mia set to work. She started by speeding up the tempo and added in a repeating of the word "I" to a new beat. As seconds went on, she made it even faster and built it to a climax before it flat lined into a more upbeat version of the song. After a few minutes, Mia threw her headphones on her bed and stood up. As badly as she wanted to make a new remix, Mia just wasn't feeling it. The latest vlog must have taken all of her creativity as this was the third time she had tried to work on a song and was stopped by a block. Sighing, she threw her light blonde hair up into messy bun and left her room to find her sister-in-law Sydney cooking their supper. Being around her brother's wife and children always helped her find new muses.

Mia sat down on a bar stool and watched as Sydney minced vegetables to add to the meat sauce. Once she finished the carrots, Mia told her, "You know that eventually Rory and Skylar are going to realize that you're feeding them vegetables, right?"

Sydney smiled and passed a second knife to Mia. "I won't tell them if you won't. Plus, it's not just the twins that don't know about the vegetables. Just don't tell your brother that I've been keeping him healthy and we'll all be okay. Now, here. You can make the side salad and cut the bread once it's out." Mia made an exasperated sound but started chopping vegetables anyway. She never said so out loud, but she couldn't be anything but grateful to her sister in law and brother for getting her away from her alcoholic father. In return, Mia loved to surprise them with gifts like an ice cream cake or making dinner some nights, or when she came back from playing music festivals, signed CDs and other swag for them.

Smiling to herself, Mia started humming a beat to herself of the song she had just been remixing. As she cut romaine lettuce and cleaned the cherry tomatoes, she started to sway along to the beat. When she finished preparing the salad, she pulled crispy French bread from the oven and sliced it thinly like Sydney wanted. By the time everything was finished, and cooled for the two year olds, Sydney and Mia took their homemade ravioli dinner to the living room where the _Illean Report_ was playing. Once she thought of how weird it was to have a Wednesday _Report_ Mia remembered that the Selection drawing was that night.

On the screen, one of the Princes was saying through a voice over that the Fennley Selected was Cassiopeia Weston. On it was a pretty girl with blonde hair and blue eyes. Next, they flashed to Prince Noah who announced, "Miss Sabine Matsuyama from Panama, welcome to the Selection." A pretty girl who had to have New Asian roots showed next, and Mia couldn't help but think that this was going to be an interesting competition. She ate a ravioli and moaned at the warm cheese filling. When Sydney made an annoyed snort, Mia smiled and showed her cheesy grin. The reaction face was enough to make the toddlers and Mia both laugh with delight as Sydney smoothed back into a composed face.

As she did, the Report cut to break as the first 10 girls had already been announced. After was a commercial for one of the gossip shows blaring, "Tomorrow night on I! we have an exclusive interview with Laney Orleans about her latest project in Hollywood. Plus, we're getting the inside scoop on her fun cover shoot with squad members Catherine Dubois and Mia Shaugessy and how they're taking over movies, modeling, and music." When the commercial flashed the magazine cover of her with her best friend and Laney, Mia groaned on instinct. She knew that she was famous, and that she was in the world's "It" squad with her other friends, but Mia still hated doing spreads for magazines. This one in particular had her and the other two in fun spring floral prints all smiling and bunched together. Though, what the real inside scoop would be is that Mia knew on sight that they had photo shopped her to be thinner with a darker tan. Catherine was still perfect as always with her long dark hair and sparkling blue eyes, no need for fixing, and Laney had her honey blonde curls braided into an updo and green eyes looking coyly down.

Sydney looked at the cover before saying to Mia, "It's not like you're fat or anything. I don't get why they keep making you thinner." Mia shrugged and pointedly shoved an entire ravioli in her mouth as other ads played. Before long, the _Report_ was on again and it was announced that they would be doing Angeles next. Not expecting it to be herself, Mia took a bite of her pasta dish before she heard, "Miss Mia Shaugessy!" and started choking. After Sydney helped her swallow the food and drink some water, Mia heard her phone in her room ringing and instantly knew who it would be. They had, after all, been the one who made Mia submit her form in the first place.

She reached her room but took her time before picking up the mint rotary phone. "Hello?" she answered before a British accent screeched, "MIA, OHMIGOSH. YOU'VE BEEN SELECTED!"

.o0*0o.

 **Another chapter, another day. First off, please enter if you haven't because I still have spots for OCs (4 get to be from a double province)! I think I have about 12 left to be exact. And if you do submit (or already have) I probably will not reply to the PM due to busy-ness and schoolwork but if she makes it onto the list on my profile within 72 hours, she's in :)**

 **Next, I know I started off with a double update, but from this point on they'll at least be about once a week unless I have a supreme inspiration hurricane. Just wanted to let everyone know that that is what I'm expecting the schedule to be like :) And though it's a Wednesday, I'm actually busy this weekend and wanted to update before next Monday afternoon when I might or might not be free.**

 **This chapter is of the lovely Marsden and Mia, sent in by** Thedaffodilqueen **and** Cookiedoodles168. **They are my music girls, a band singer and a DJ, who both had super fun personalities (though I didn't do Mia justice yet) that I can't wait to write about more. I hope you guys like them!**

 **Thank you to my lovely:**

 **reviewers-** BellaRosa17, Cookiedoodles168, TheBunnyMasterMind, MissAmeliaYoung, Headless Gummy Bear, orangerosey32, Artemis' hunters x3, jenhen48, and my absolute best friend on the entire internet, the most amazing UltimateMaxmericaShipper. She gives amazing reviews too ;)

 **followers-** Cookiedoodles168, TheBunnyMasterMind, UltimateMaxmericaShipper, and mairugh.

 **favoriters-** TheBunnyMasterMind.

 **Next chapter is the last of the before Selection scenes!**

 **Xoxo, fivesauce'n'YAbooks**


	5. Her Design Dream and Her Sailor Heart

_So here's to everything coming down to nothing_  
 _Here's to silence that cuts me to the core_

\- "Forever and Always", Taylor Swift

.o0*0o.

Emery Jade Teach was a bundle of energy as she rushed around the Salvatore Design House.

The revealing of the Selected was in only ten minutes and she had so many ideas to present to Caesar, her boss and honorary father, about designs they could use during the competition. Emery smiled as a sketch of a girl in a light purple dress that went from fitted at the top to waves of fabric towards the bottom came loose from the papers in her hands. Once he approved of the designs, the two would sit down and watch the revealing so that they could start assigning already made creations and be inspired for more. It was all Emery could stand to not go running to his office.

Once there, she waited until the girl from the palace, one of the head maids, had finalized the contract with Caesar to sell them so many pre-made dresses to get the Selection started. Emery smiled at the girl as she left, for if she proved to be good enough, at least 8 of the 40 girls would be wearing a dress designed by her. As soon as he shut the door, Emery opened the file she had been carrying and laid out the designs. Caesar put on his glasses, only ever worn to look at details, and inspected all eight pages. He touched a few of them and made small notes, but when he looked up at Emery and smiled, she knew that she had been approved.

Caesar smiled at his young protege and intern before he told her, "Emery, I love how enthusiastic you are about designing dresses for the Selection. I must admit however that I would have much preferred to be designing dresses for you." Emery sighed and started straightening the pages of dress designs as Caesar started his speech that had been going on for a week. "Darling, you're young, beautiful, and talented. There is no reason why you shouldn't enter. Prince Liam and Prince Noah would be lucky to just know your name." He smiled at her and then picked up one of the sheets she had been fidgeting with.

Emery sighed and looked at Caesar to say, "Caesar, I'm lucky to be here right now. It was a miracle to get this internship. I don't need to be asking for another favor from the universe in order to be picked for the Selection. I'm perfectly happy staying here in Kent with you, Asher, Clea, and Carden." He clucked his tongue but held back from saying anything as the Selecting began. The first girl that spot to Emery was one with fiery red hair, Elsie Oliverat from Bankston. As they showed her photo,Emery found herself looking down at a clinging black dress with white lace detailing on a sheer back. It was a dress fit for a model, and while the girl wasn't one, Emery could tell that she had the body and the spirit to pull this dress off. When Cassiopeia Weston from Fennley was picked, the purple dress from earlier called her name. Emery was so entranced by matching dresses to girls that what she saw next confused her utterly.

It took a moment to recognize her own sliver locks, but when it clicked, Emery turned to Caesar with fire in her eyes. Slowly, she asked him, "Why is it that I've been Selected, Caesar? I did not turn in a form." He made a noncommittal sound as Emery stood up and asked, "Did you enter me into the Selection?" When he looked down, the feeling of betrayal stung Emery. "Caesar, you knew I didn't want to enter! Why would you do this?"

Caesar shook his head at her, and slowly said, "I never came by your form, Emery. If somebody entered for you, then it wasn't me." Emery left the room in frustration before allowing him to speak again. She was being immature, of course, yet Emery hated that the only thing she had wanted was being taken away from her. As she walked through the streets to her home and siblings, Emery noticed that there was an electronic billboard with her picture on it that blasted the message, 'Congratulations to Kent's Selected, Lady Emery Teach!'. A fresh wave of tears came and even with her head down, she started to feel people stare at her. A few brave souls tapped her on her shoulder and she ignored them as well as people who called out to her.

At home, Emery locked the door behind her and found herself in front of her oldest younger brother, Asher. Immediately she was in his arms and sobbing. He comforted her and asked what was wrong, and she saw over his shoulder that Clea was peaking around the corner hallway. It seemed weird to see her ten year old sister look guilty until she remembered Caesar's words. He didn't submit her form, but her siblings would have been around it while she was working long hours. She pulled back from her brother and asked for confirmation, but their visages said everything. They had been to ones to submit her form.

Emery let out a few sniffles and told her siblings, "You have no idea what you've just done." While she fled to her room, she heard Asher call out behind her that they only meant to help her, that she should work in the Selection and become a princess like she had for the designing internship at Caesar's design house. When she finally shut the door behind her, Emery walked to a photo of her and her siblings, all four of them. Seeing how happy they were just made Emery even madder and then she heard glass shatter after it was thrown across the room. She sank down onto her bed and whispered over and over to herself, "I just wanted to have a normal life."

.o0*0o.

Corin Jossie Garrick breathed in the salty air as the ship below her pulled into the port.

It has been about one month ever since they had left Hansport and traveled to other provinces' shores to exchange goods they had from the Greek Isles. As she transitioned from boat to land, Corin laughed as she saw the members of her crew start lugging goods off of _The Catalyst_. She probably should have been helping them, but she knew that Harley, Beckett, and probably Spence along with the rest of the sailors had it covered. She looked around her, and finding no people to guess the life story of, she turned and chose to help her father finish taking inventory of goods. She loved her father, however, she knew how much her mother preferred her to help me make sure the counts were correct.

An hour or two later, she had double checked every mark her father made. Once done, she walked towards the streets that would lead her home. She made it only about a yard before she saw out of the corner of her eye Harley fall into step beside her. He was whistling a tune and carving an apple as Corin asked, "Where do you think you're heading, Harley?"

He cracked her a wicked smile and replied, "Wherever you're going, love." Corin shook her head and caused her dirty blonde hair to become even more windblown. Already the thought of when she would have to brush out all of the tangles was giving her a headache. When she looked back at her friend, he gave another grin and ate a slice of the apple. "Want a piece?," he asked while chewing. She gave him a drawn out noise of disgust as they winded through the streets together. Before long they had made it to her family's combination bakery and apartment. As they would returning from any trip, the pair dipped behind the counter and Corin grabbed one of her sister's famous butter cookies. When Harley tried to grab one, however, Astrid came out of the back with a wooden spoon raised.

"Harley, I better warn you to stay away from Lei's cookies. She made those to sell, and Mom will kill you if you cut into the profits." She then dropped the spoon and ran to squeeze the two into a group hug. "Other than that, I missed you guys so, so, soooooo much!" Astrid backed up and smiled at Harley and Corin. She turned to Corin, and with a wink, told her sister, "I made sure to do what you asked. I even used my best handwriting." To Harley, she told him, "You, sir, cannot be here right now. We are about to be hit with work hour traffic and I can't have you taking product in front of customers." She grabbed a bag and turned so that he couldn't see what she put in it as she shoved him out the door. "Bye Harley! Love you and all that! Come back later for dinner. We're having pita wraps and sweet potato chips!"

Corin laughed as Harley left and Astrid turned to her. The smile on her face broke Corin as she leaned against the wall for support. "I can't believe you just threw my friend out like that, Astrid."

Her sister smiled and let Corin know, "You have no idea what I'll do to get my sister in the Selected. I mean, at the same time, you shouldn't even have to enter. One look at you and Prince Noah will be drooling." Corin smiled at Astrid's confidence as she made her way to the back of the bakery. There, her mother and Leila were busy preparing what looked to be pink batter, most likely a cherry or strawberry. Corin tried to sample it but they butted her away and she went upstairs to shower.

When she came out and before she took a nap, Corin reveled in being home. She loved sailing the open seas immensely, but loved being at home with her siblings and both parents even more. After her nap and dreams of being a captain of her own ship, Corin awoke to see her family mostly in the living room and Harley pouring iced tea into multiple glasses. She smiled at them as Harley yelled to her, "I swear I was just about to wake you up. Dinner's ready."

Corin gave him a look before taking her plate of food and a glass. She and the others made their way to the living room and then joked around until the _Report_ started announcing girls. When Corin's own name was called and her picture shown, both of her sisters jumped up and started screaming. Even she got extremely excited, yet that was before she saw Harley put his food down and stand. He went to the kitchen and started pacing before Corin went to him. "What's wrong, Harley? Aren't you excited for me?"

He just gave her a look, and then he confessed, "I have loved you for going on two years, Corin. So do you think I could be happy for you to be entering a contest to marry another guy?"

She stood shocked and when she stopped, Corin told him, "I don't think you do, Harley." Tears rolled down as he stormed out of the house, all while Corin stayed in her spot. She had gotten her wish and was picked for the Selection, but was it worth the cost of her friend?

.o0*0o.

 **5 entries left! And not that I don't appreciate you who are sending me multiple girls, because you are totally kick butt, but these will be saved for any newbie who hasn't submitted yet. Or possibly cannon fodder.**

 **Okay, so Emery and Corin, created by the killer** Artemis' hunters **and** more . than . just . a . story **,** **were chosen because they're both Fours, which I've neglected, and also because they have an awesome father (figure for Emery) which also has been neglected. And I know this chapter is very meh but I needed to update to post something for everybody-**

 *****THE LINKS ON MY PROFILE HAVE BEEN SORTA FIXED. THEY NOW HAVE THE LINK TO TWO DIFFERENT PINTEREST BOARDS WITH FACE CLAIMS. ONCE THE DRESSES START (NEXT CHAPTER MIGHT I ADD) THERE WILL BE A THIRD FOR THE CLOTHES*****

 **Now that that has been announced, thanks you to my**

 **reviewers:** MaybeIt'sJustNotThatEasy, Cookiedoodles168, 4Love4Love4, TheBunnyMasterMind, UltimateMaxmericaShipper, Thedaffodilqueen, BellaRosa17, more . than . just . a . story x3, Artemis' hunters, **and** wolfofstark x2.

 **followers:** Lillian Daughter of Posiedon, Max merica, MaybeIt'sJustNotThatEasy, TheImaginatore, and more . than . just . a . story

 **favoriters:** Jorie . James, Max merica, MaybeIt'sJustNotThatEasy, and TheImaginatore.

 **Will hopefully update again this weekend! Xoxo,**

 **fivesauce'n'YAbooks**


	6. An Entitled and An Inspired

_Took our broken hearts_  
 _Put them in a drawer_  
 _Everybody here was someone else before_

~ "Welcome to New York", Taylor Swift

.o0*0o.

Vivienne Faye Danvers waited anxiously as the town car pulled up to the tarmac.

The Selection couldn't start fast enough for her. Ever since that morning, and hearing her father voicing her suspicions, Vivienne had been ready to set foot in Angeles already so that her plan of action could begin. For the past two weeks, and add to that eighteen years, she had been studying everything the late Queen Kathleen had said and done before she had won her Selection. She knew all there was to know about how she hailed from Waverly, rose from a Four to a One, and how the lower castes hailed her as a heroine. During her reign in the castle, Queen Kathleen had lowered taxes while still improving the Illean infrastructure; tirelessly worked to improve conditions for the Sixes, Sevens, and Eights; forged a peace treaty with the Greek Isles after one garden tea party while she was in the middle of carrying the Princes; and also set up a system of shelters for anybody down on their luck in every province.

During her studying, Vivienne had also come across how much the King seemed to love his Selected bride, and every time she saw that bit, she would have to have to stop her eye roll or scoff. Love was something for fools, and Vivienne saw that in her elder triplet, Amelia. The stupid girl had abandoned their family's fortunes, her sisters, and everything she had ever known to simply be in love with a lowly Three tutor they had shared. Trying to shake the thoughts of the betrayal out of her mind, Vivienne left the town car and smiled at the paparazzi waiting for her. She heard a couple of them call out information about her, like how she was to inherit her father's $7.6 million dollar media company, Danvers Inc., and also how much more beautiful she was than Amelia and Katherine. The smile on her face tightened at this, as though it was meant to be a compliment, Amelia had never looked quite the same, and Katherine was her clone except for being a bit taller and a birthmark on her back while Vivienne had a butterfly wing shaped one on her right shoulder.

She smiled for a mere three minutes before Vivienne made her way onto the plane. While her father's company had prepped her for the media attention and how good coverage would make her more appealing to the Royal Family, she hated having to seem as angelic as her features suggested. When she entered the sitting area, a girl with part black, part purple hair was already there. The piercings all over her face had Vivienne's face curled with disgust and she held a hand up before the girl could move. She told the girl, "Whoever you are, I don't care. And as for me, if you're actually serious about the Selection, you would already know my name and face." Though the girl seemed a bit shocked at the let down, she showed no sign of it. As she sat down and prepped for take-off, Vivienne recalled the name of her competitor. It was Marsden Wallace, a Five from Paloma. However, seeing her in person cemented the idea that she would be the first gone.

She put on a face mask and after relaxing into her neck pillow, Vivienne simply was as they flew to the next province over, Honduragua. There, she lifted up the mask to see a girl who was pretty in her own way get on. Her brown hair was messy, and she had strong eyebrowns, but nothing about her seemed memorable. When she looked towards Vivienne, she placed her mask back over her eyes and waited until she heard the other two girls start talking. What she understood was the girl was nothing more than a secretary, and that her name was Dahlia. None of this surprised Vivienne, but studying not only the Royals and 39 girls made everybody seem unimpressive.

The plane took off during their conversation, and Vivienne actually feel asleep on the ride to Panama. This time she didn't even bother with taking her mask off. It was the New Asian girl, Sabine or something, that was chosen from this province. Vivienne drifted in and out of their conversation as they flew back to Angeles. The pilot interrupted one of her naps when he announced that they were going to land in an hour. Vivienne sighed and took the mask off, deciding that she needed to retouch her makeup and hair. On her way to it, she saw that Selene(?) was by herself and that Marsden and Dahlia were whispering to themselves.

Once she finished perfecting her cat eye, and after she was assured her updo looked perfect, Vivienne made her way to the New Asian. The girl gave her a weary glance after Vivienne gave her a smile and sat next to her. Something that Vivienne had missed when she first got on was that her face was unique, and Vivienne was certain that becoming this girl's "friend" would be beneficial during the Selection. "Hi," she told the girl with a shark smile. "I'm Vivienne Danvers. Who are you?"

The girl seemed nervous for a minute of replying before she said, "Sabine Matsuyama." Vivienne inwardly deflated on how she got the girl's name wrong, but saw how shy the girl was and figured it wouldn't hurt to talk to her more.

"Oh, well, hello, Sabine. What caste are you? I'm a Two, heiress to a lot of money." Vivienne tried to reign in the superiority in her voice, but if Sabine noticed, she didn't let on. She proceeded to tell Vivienne that she was a Two as well, and at Vivienne's surprised face, she explained that she was a professional golfer. Once she finished, Vivienne gave herself a mental high five. This girl was unique, being an immigrant and all, as well as being a high caste. This was perfect for her, as she was eye catching to the Princes, and if she was attached to girl, it was only natural that they saw her too. Plus, this girl was so quiet that even if she made it into the Elite, Vivienne would find a way into provoking the girl into something to be sent home for. She was pleased with her choosing of Sabine, and the two talked until the trip was over. Vivienne collected her stuff and offered Sabine a hand before asking, "Shall we go meet the media, and the Princes?"

.o0*0o.

Annalee Macy Clark let out a long breath, and forced herself to admit the hard truth- she was a bit scared to get on the plane.

It wasn't the thought of flying that scared her- she was a military brat, after all, and knew the inside tricks and tips of being a frequent flyer. Even before her mother's death seven years ago, Lee had always been on a plane as they transferred from one military base to another versus by boat or car. While she sat waiting in the car, the other girl drawn from Tammins, Reiza Galling, was greeting the small press assembled outside. Lee had only been able to talk to the girl for a few minutes on the drive from her house to the airport, and albeit a bit guilty, Lee already wondered how long the tomboy would last in the Selection. It was unfair of Lee to think this, as she knew that the same question was to be asked about her, but the girl was balls to the wall in the most non-princess-y way possible. Once she saw Reiza get mad at a reporter and flash them her middle fingers, Lee emerged from the car.

Bright flashes overwhelmed her as she smiled at the Threes waiting to get glimpse of her. So long as she remained in Tammins, Lee knew that no big time Two reporters would be here, but she had still tried to make her blonde brown hair sleek that morning. She remembered her brother walking by and laughing at her as she tried to apply the styling cream and remembering how she had given him a black eye with her brush turned her smile more natural. It seemed that in the time it took for her eyesight to be cleared enough to look around that Reiza had been escorted onto the large plane waiting. Lee relaxed herself and tried to answer a few questions, however, a palace guard pushed her onto the airplane. When she was on it fully, Lee took time to look at the other passengers.

On a seat closest to her, there was an average girl who was only noticeable by the amount of freckles on her face and frizzy auburn hair. Not far behind her on the opposite side was a girl with almost black hair and brown eyes that Lee could tell was seriously pretty. Near her sat Reiza a bit gloomy, and in the very back was a blonde girl that gave a glare to Lee when she saw her. Deciding that the auburn haired girl was her best bet, Lee placed her carry on bag down on a seat opposite her in the somewhat cubicle. "Mind if I sit here?" she asked. After a beat, she added, "I'm Annalee Clark, but I prefer Lee."

"Hi! I'm Camilla Bond, but I go by Cammie most of the time at home," she replied to Lee. "You can honestly call me Cammie or Camilla, I love both. And please sit down! The plane is going to take off soon, and after three other takeoffs, I can tell you that you'll want to be sitting." Lee smiled at her and took the seat.

When she did, a warning light flashed overhead for them to put their seat belts on, and Lee grabbed a piece of chewing gum from her purse. She offered one as well to Cammie and told her, "I'm a frequent flyer, I'll admit. Chewing gum always help me during takeoffs and landings." Cammie graciously took the piece and the two made small talk through out the change in pressure. Once they were steady in the air, Lee asked, "So do you know who the other girls on the plane are? I only know Reiza, and that's only because we both hail from Tammins."

Cammie smiled and motioned for the brunette to come over. Once she did, Cammie introduced them by saying, "Lee, this is Cecily Harper. She's a Five from Midston, and I forgot your occupation- sorry! Cecily, this is Annalee Clark, but she wants to be called Lee. She is obviously from Tammins, and I don't know anything else really." Cammie let out a laugh and Lee took up her cue.

"I'm a Two, technically, but I should have been born a Three. Right now I don't have an official occupation, but I would rather be a doctor than a soldier." Lee hadn't noticed it, but she had been self consciously twirling her hair around her finger as she let out her guilty confession. Nobody, not her father and brother, or anybody else close to her, knew that particular secret of hers.

Cecily smiled at her and took the seat beside Cammie before adding to the conversation, "Sounds very scandalous. A Two born in the wrong caste!" At this she smiled at Lee to show she was joking, and Lee blush proved that it struck close. Cecily obviously didn't want it to get anymore serious, so she started again with, "As Camilla said, I am a Five, and I work as an accompanist. It sounds fancy and all, but it just means I can only play instruments. Thought my caste demands it, I can't sing a lick." Lee smiled at her remark. Knowing that the girl didn't seem to be mean made Lee much more relaxed around her.

Just as she wanted to respond in a similar joking manner, but a scoff from behind them drew her attention elsewhere. Lee turned to where the scoff came from, and she saw the blonde rolling her eyes at them. Curious, she looked to her new acquaintances and whispered, "Who is she and what's her deal?"

It was Cammie who responded with wide brown eyes, "That's Scarlett Rizzoli. I remembered seeing her on _The Report_. She's only a Three from Sumner, but acts as if the crown is already hers. I was the first person on the plane, and since she was the second, I tried talking to her but the girl just ignored me."

Cecily told her, "The girl is probably just on her period or something." At Lee and Cammie's faces, Cecily elaborated, "I mean, honestly, nobody could naturally be that rude without it being hormones."

Lee gave the girl a weary glance at the same time as an announcement came over the loudspeaker. "Ladies, if you please, we will be landing soon, and we recommend seat belts. Also, welcome to Angeles."

.o0*0o.

 **Ugh, why do I suck at endings? Anyways, here are the lovely Vivienne and Annalee, created by** Artemis' hunters **and** Max merica **respectively. Moving on, the SYOC is now officially closed. I will fill any blanks with some throwaways.**

 **So please review and tell me what you thought of the like 5 girls we hear speak, and anything else.**

 **Thank you to my**

 **followers:** Angel Princess 31

 **favoriters:** Angel Princess 31 **and** Swag Giraffe.

 **and reviewers:** Cookiedoodles168, wolfofstark, orangerosey32, Max merica, MissAmeliaYoung x2, Angel Princess x3, BellaRosa17, more . than . just . a . story, Artemis' hunters, MaybeIt'sJustNotThatEasy, **and** Swag Giraffe x3.

 **Sorry if this was a dissappointing update, but I've been very meh. The next one I promise will be better :) Bye lovelies! See you next Saturday with a Princes' POV.**

 **Xoxo,**

 **fivesauce'n'YAbooks**


	7. A Different Prince

_Don't you think nineteen's too young_  
 _To be played by your dark, twisted games?_

~ "Dear John", Taylor Swift

.o0*0o.

To say that the next 24 hours were not going to be stressful was considered a feat to Liam as he looked out the window.

In his hand was a master list with 40 names, one of them belonging to his future wife. Trying to wipe exhaustion from his eyes, Liam walked towards the couch in the center of a sort of common room for the Royal Family. Scattered around the room, his older younger brother was looking through the written portion of these forms as Poppy and Ethan commented on the attached pictures. He had given Poppy pink sticky notes and Ethan blue to keep them from writing anything on them while Mason placed anything he thought on green ones. It was a system that was working as gray clouds gathered over the Angeles skies. It was, in all honesty, a butt ugly day to be arriving in the province for the first time as thirty-eight or so girls were.

Liam sighed as he smiled at Poppy's not quite perfect handwriting was on the completed forms and said simply _Her eyes are pretty_ with a heart and _She looks mean_. Ethan's were along the same lines and Mason's were over really just his feeling from reading about them. His had _She looks hot but she's also a socialite, so be careful about trusting her_ ; _Smart, on a full scholarship to one of the best law schools in the country_ ; or, _She is a triplet and apparently comes from old money. Dad is going to push you if you get her to keep her in longer_. Liam smiled as he read through these. It helped to have three fresh opinions on forms that seemed to blur if he reread them. The overall facts he knew however where that 12 Twos, 14 Threes, 10 Fours, and 4 Fives had been Selected. Fifteen of them were blonde, sixteen were brunette, four had red hair, three had black hair, one had white hair, and the last had grey hair. He hadn't started counting eye colors but the pictures seemed to be a majority of brown or green eyes.

His anxiety about the girls had been escalating as the days had passed and now here he was, watching his siblings comment on the girls as he gave final approval to the rooming chart. He was just taking a drink of his water when one of the butlers came in to inform him that the first two planes had touched down. "Sir, the Selected from Whites, Yukon, Atlin, and St. George are in a helicopter en route here right now. Those from Lakedon, Labrador, Hansport, and Waverly are just now touching down at the Angeles International Airfield."

Just after Liam requested that news be sent when they actually arrived there and more planes returned, his attention turned to his sister cutting through the room in bikinis and a tiny cover-up. "Oi," he called out to them. Sidney stopped first and Willow reluctantly followed as they turned to face him. He saw just how skimpy their bikinis were and he demanded, "Where in the bloody hell are you going in that?"

Willow spoke to him as Sidney curled the ends of her ponytail. "Liam, we're just going to Noah's party. It's a pool party, so obviously we have to wear our swimsuits." Sidney caught onto whatever they were trying to convey as she added in, "I mean, who wears a ballgown in a hot tub?" The two smiled at him and Liam inspected them further. Willow had braided her brown hair back into pigtails and Sidney was fiddling with her dyed blonde locks. Besides the bikinis, which seemed less revealing the longer he saw them on the twins, they looked like they normally did. He sighed and told them, "I really don't want you at any party Noah hosts."

The twins gave him a look of abject horror refuting his claims with, "We're almost fifteen, Liam! Plus, it's only a bunch of Twos and ambassadors's children there. It's not like the media will be there to watch us."

Liam sighed and shook his head as they left the room. Poppy giggled and he smiled at the youngest princess. She had finished inspecting the girls as a butler informed them that the first helicopter was on grounds and the Selection was officially in the palace with makeovers starting. Now, Poppy was up and messing with Ethan over some toy or another. Upon closer inspection, it was because he was trying to push her away but he gave up. There were smiles on their faces as she played with dolls in a miniature castle he was inspecting to add stuff into and onto. As more and more news was brought of girls getting makeovers, Liam had an idea.

"Poppy," he called to his sister, "I need you to do me a favor." She smiled at him as he asked her, "Will you please go see the Selected for me? I personally can't, but if you do, they might let you have a makeover too." Poppy agreed hurriedly and ran from the room, pink gown streaming out behind her and bare feet running. He found it adorable that his little sister never wore real shoes around the Palace. It made the Palace almost seem like more of a home than a gilded cage. Just as he thought she was already down the three flights of stairs, Liam heard a little squeal of delight come from far away. Huh, she must have been stopped by the maids for a bit. Sometimes they were worse than the nannies when it came to protecting her.

He voiced this thought aloud and he heard Ethan agree. Ethan had scoffed at Poppy's squeal and Mason laughed at the youngest brother. He asked the little boy, "Would you like to go join Poppy? Or are you too old for spying?" Ethan looked as if he thought about it for a minute and told them he was "definitely too old. Spying was for little kids" and that he was ten years old for a reason. They both laughed at Ethan, and upon stopping, Mason approached Liam. "Hey, here are the rest of your forms. I hate to abandon you but I have a call scheduled in thirty minutes with Amelié. Do you mind watching over Ethan for the rest of the afternoon? The nannies are off on holiday for the next two weeks until the Selection settles down a bit."

Liam wanted to take on the watching duty but he felt bad telling Mason, "I can't, Mason. I would love too but I have another stupid propriety meeting with your mother for when I meet the Selected. So does Noah, in fact. My best guess for you is to wait until Eleanor breaks up his party and the twin are free."

Mason shrugged and smiled ruefully. "Liam, we all know how horrible Sidney and Willow are at babysitting. Remember the last time they were left with Ethan and Poppy? Both of them were covered in glitter and makeup by the time someone came to collect them. With Poppy it was okay, but I still don't think Ethan has gotten over his hatred for the stuff yet." Liam laughed and agreed with Mason on that point before setting the forms down. He bid his brothers goodbye before he made his way to the Queen's office.

.o0*0o.

"May the booze be ever flowing, my friends," Noah bellowed as he popped the cork from a bottle of champagne.

Fellow cheers rang out around him in the pool house. He chugged the fizzy liquid from the bottle so that when he belched everybody else joined in with him. He had decided the night that he had announced the Selected that he would throw a final party before the girls arrived, and it was. He had ordered a plethora of alcohol, snacks, and most importantly, drugs. He grabbed a random pill, most likely ecstasy, and finished the bottle of champagne. Surrounding him were the cream of the crop his age- a mixture of the elite Twos and sons of foreign ambassadors visiting before the Selection commenced. It was perfect as these guys all had to leave at the end of the party to go home seeing as his grand dad had forbidden anyone from influencing the Selected against the Princes.

The guys around him, nobody with anything more than swim trunks on, all jumped in the pool or chatted through a drugged haze. He himself had grown tired of standing around chugging alcohol and chatting so he decided randomly to jump on the Russian boy Alexei and push themselves into the deep end of the pool. When he emerged from the crisp water, Alexei was goodhearted as he was swearing in Russian while they tread water. "So, friend," he asked, "when will the beautiful girls arrive?"

A guy with curly blonde hair and greyish blues eyes swam over to the two. He told Alexei, "Why does it matter to you, buddy? We can't talk to them anyways." Belatedly Noah realized the guy was Ayden Devonshire, a musician or something. Noah gave him a nod of his head to thank the dude for shooting down the almost diplomat, well, diplomatically.

Noah asked him aside, and the two got out of the pool and headed for the food. "I know who you are, yet how do I know you?" he inquired of the Two. Ayden laughed and told the prince of his connection to one of the Selected, a Maya or something, and that he had attended many charity galas. Noah smiled at the dude but he couldn't care less about the Selection in that moment. His drugs were kicking in and he just wanted to party. The buzz he had going strengthened as he continued to go hard. He had been about to go down the water slide when he heard something that made his blood go cold.

It was a girl's laugh. He looked over at the hot tub, where he could have sworn it came from, and he saw her. Grace. Any effect the substances made on him evaporated as she sat there flirting with the other guys. She looked younger than the last time he saw her, with cheeks that were more rounded and eyes that were bigger. "Hey, Noah," she called out to him. Confused, he went down the slide and swam towards the ghost. When he got there however, he was filled with disappointed. Who he thought to be Grace was actually just his annoying sister. Sidney was in her place, a flirty smile on her face as she chatted with the celebrities around her. Now pissed at himself for getting hopeful, Noah grabbed Sidney's wrist and started pulling her out of the tub. She cried in pain and he loosened his grip but still continued to pull her out of the tub. After a certain point the guys in the tub stopped staring at the action and now tried to look anywhere but at the siblings. Embarrassed and seeing that she wouldn't get to stay in the water, Sidney stepped out and into a towel. Quietly she asked him, "What was that for? I can't sit in the hot tub anymore?"

Noah huffed at her and they started towards an outside patio. He wasn't buzzed enough to think that having a fight with his younger sister would be any better than people knowing about the parties he threw yet he still did not want to have to deal with losing his buzz buddies. Once the door to the inside was closed, he turned to her and demanded to know why she was there. Looking back inside to make sure nobody was looking, she replied, "I'm allowed to swim whenever I want. And I wanted to." He didn't buy her story, even more so when she kept her eyes on one of the younger guys inside.

"Sidney, get out now. And take Willow with you, because I know that you two never go anywhere alone. Crash one of my parties again and I swear I will have Eleanor send you to a European all girls boarding school." Looking part heartbroken and part humiliated, she screamed "I hate you!" at him before going inside From his point of view he could see her go to Willow, tell her what was happening, and both looked bummed as they left. Even when he went inside, he couldn't help but think of his sister's face. He knew that the twins idolized him, who knew why, but he couldn't stand the way they followed him around like he was their white knight. Didn't they know that he was screwed up?

Inside, the party just wasn't the same to him. When he noticed Eleanor walking towards the building, he remembered that there was a propriety lesson this afternoon that he must have missed. Suddenly exhausted, he told everybody to leave. By the time they noticed most of them had their queen coming towards their intoxicated state, they all left through the back door quickly. He sighed and grabbed a couple of potato chips as Eleanor's heels clicked on the floor walking towards him. How she managed to do so in heels on slick tiles was beyond his knowledge.

"Noah Daniels Illea, what do you think you're doing?" Her face was pink from the anger radiated at him.

Wanting to be funny, Noah replied, "Having a party for one, of course." Eleanor, obviously not in the mood, slapped him hard across his left cheek.

She backed up from him and gestured to the mess left over. "This is ridiculous! You're high and drunk and who knows what else on the day that your future wife will be arriving!" Noah rubbed his cheek and tried to see what point she was making. After all, if he was going to be honest with his future wife, shouldn't he throw a party today? When he asked Eleanor this, she snorted. "You idiot. I'm trying to help you as your mother-"

He let her get no further by shouting, "You're not my mother, Eleanor! You are just a sorry, sad replacement for the woman my father loves! You were picked from a batch of Twos who were young and pretty and easy to manipulate! Everybody knows about how you weren't even picked for his Selection so you resented my mom, a lowly Four who became a One!" Shocked, Eleanor could not respond much further then shaking her head.

When she recovered, Eleanor simply told him, "Your father loves me enough, Noah. And I tried to be a mother for you even when you didn't deserve one," before she left the building. Noah watched her walk out and then rage overtook. He flipped the table with the refreshments on it over. Lounge chairs were thrown into the pool. A small table was thrown through, breaking, a window. He hated that woman. He hated the Selection. Most of all, he hated himself.

.o0*0o.

 **So before I get asked any questions about it, Grace is the daughter of the Illean Ambassador to Russia and Alexei is the son of the Russian Ambassador to Illea. They are kind of like opposites.**

 **Anyways, here are a quick update on how the Royal Family is doing! If you can't tell, I wrote this more to go a bit deeper on who each Royal is and what they are like more so than any plot advancing stuff. Tell me what you think in th review section :)**

 **For the next update, it will probably be on Sunday instead of Saturday because I have a competition this Friday and won't be home until Saturday afternoon/night. Just wanted to let you guys know.**

 **Quick shout out to** BellaRosa17 **,** Deeptha13 **, and** Morgenstar **for following,** Deeptha13 **and** MABubbles **for favoriting, and my lovely reviewers:** wolfofstark **,** MTJAS **(sorry for being lazy and not typing out your name but the periods always make formatting weird),** Cookiedoodles168 **,** Artemis' hunters **,** MissAmeliaYoung **,** BellaRosa17 **,** Angel Princess 31 **,** jenhen48 **x2,** 4Love4Love4 **,** orangerosey32 **,** Max merica **, and** UltimateMaxmericaShipper **.**

 **Xoxo,**

 **a very busy fivesauce'n'YAbooks**


	8. The Old Enemies and The New Friends

_People like you always want back the love they pushed aside_  
 _But people like me are gone forever when you say goodbye_

~"All You Had To Do Was Stay", Taylor Swift

.o0*0o.

For Halley Jane Adaire, it all started when she boarded onto the plane bound for Angeles.

In the case of most people, not seeing your sister after 10 years would have you running to hug each other. In her case, however, Halley was met with a glare and Cassie's cold shoulder. From what she remembered of her sister, Cassie was warm, fun, and super bubbly. Of course, the last time they had seen each other in person had been when Cassie was about 7 and she was 9. So when she saw Cassie all grown up, still as pretty and outgoing, ignoring her, Halley knew that she still wasn't forgiven for going with her father to Belcourt. It seemed to her that Cassie believed that they had to pick a side in the divorce and she thought Halley had chosen the wrong one. Why, she didn't know, but it was strange since they had never been close when younger. They had just been too different.

Yet on the plane, Halley found herself hoping for a second that she wouldn't hate her. Knowing this, she started to walk down the aisle past Cassie and the other girl's seats when a foot shot out. Her instincts were not quite as ninja like as she wished, and due to this, Halley of course tripped over the petite foot hanging there. As soon as she had, it retracted and Halley glared at her sister. Cassie glanced at her to mutter an "oops" before the girl across from her shot up. "What happened? You know what, don't worry about explaining. I can be clumsy sometimes too." Halley gave her a half smile, half grimace and shook the girl's hand as she continued talking. "I'm Samantha Queen, a Two from Sonage. I usually go by Sammy if that's okay with you."

Halley tried to be friendly as she replied, "Halley Adaire from Belcourt. I'm a Three studying law." Sammy's eyes widened and she dragged Halley to sit with her and Cassie as the plane took off. At the girl's demands of more details, and since Halley saw the curiosity in her sibling's eyes, she continued, "I'm currently on a scholarship to this amazing school in Bankston. I'm studying law because I really want to have the power to change things I see as unfair, such as the way Eights are treated and how children of divorced parents are taken care of." She made sure to look at Cassie's face when she spoke this aloud, but she didn't stop there. Instead, she ended with, "Other than that, I'm just a normal nineteen year old girl who lives with her dad and step-family when not at school." Just when she figured she was done talking and ready to move to a different portion of the plane, Cassie muttered something under her breath that sounded a lot like 'witch'. When Halley questioned her, Cassie simply shrugged and Halley leaned close to whisper, "Y'know, that doesn't sound like an apology, for tripping me or calling me such a vulgar name."

Cassie smiled sickly sweet at Halley just as Sammy started talking again. The girl wasn't speaking anything important so Halley nodded until she excused herself to use the restroom. On the way back, she chose a seat towards the back of the plane and watched the two girls chat. It seemed that as soon as she had left her sister's mood had brightened. Knowing that it was pointless to try to rejoin, Halley took out her book and started reading. The flight to Likely was probably going to be tedious with nothing to distract her mind from the upcoming competition. She was only three-fourths of the way through her book when they touched down to pick up the final girl. She looked up to get a glance at the girl who was slender and petite. Her hair, a brown so light it seemed blonde, and eyes that were blue made her look like the other two girls waiting. Halley self consciously touched her dark brown hair and shrank down a bit. Were all the other girls in the Selection blonde with blue or green eyes? If they were, would her hair and dark brown eyes make her stick out in a good bad way? Wanting to tamper down all of her insecurity questions, Halley tried to smile at the new girl. She saw Halley and smiled back but not before Sammy and Cassie talked to her.

A bit jealous of not having her to talk to on the flight to Angeles, Halley had waited until the plane was back in the air and Sammy and Cassie were back in their spot to meet the newbie. The girl seemed to be quiet like her and not a cutthroat competitor so when she started talking to Halley, she was more enthusiastic than with Sammy. They started talking and once she got to know her a bit, Halley noticed that Greer seemed a little spacey. She would blurt out things like, "White gold and silver jewelry would be awesome for your skin tone," or "Did you know that in medieval Europe rubies were considered to bring health, wisdom, wealth, and success in love?" Halley always smiled politely to the girl as she remembered Greer saying she worked in a jewelry store back home. The two spent the rest of the plane ride debating history and silly thoughts on what gemstones were considered to bring about and Halley beamed at herself as she figured that at least she made one friend in the Selection.

Now, she was at the Palace consulting with her three maids on her look. She had learned quickly that they were Colette (curly blond), Angel (the ginger), and Christina (Tinkerbell). They all gave her suggestions on what to do with her image including cutting her long hair and wearing tighter clothes to show off her skinny model-esque body. Of the two, she had agreed to having the hair cut into a layered "lob" as the maids called it. After that, they had done evil to her legs, armpits, and above the upper lip by doing some waxing. By the time they had made it to hair styling and makeup, she had given them free reign. It was while Christina worked on styling her new haircut, Colette made her pretty with makeup, and Angel went to fight over her first dress that Halley took a nap. When she awoke, it was to chose between two dresses- one that was short and a mixture of white and multicolored or a simple black one. She quickly chose it as it was long and puffed at the bottom and also because she loved the look of the black satin on her.

Feeling a bit giddy, Halley strapped on the nude heels she had been given and, with some help from Colette, she made her way to the line where finished girls were waiting to take their "After" photos. The palace was using their photos from the form as the "Before" but Halley wished they wouldn't. Her hair had been a mess that day and she looked completely unappealing. Still, if she was going to be doing one of these photo sets for the _Report_ , which she was 90% sure they were for, then Halley wanted to be glowing in her "After" picture. When she looked to the current girl being photographed, her heart stopped for a bit.

The girl from the plane, Sammy, was finishing her session. She had on a tight dress that was white on the sides with a black lace overlay down the middle. Her skin was a few shades darker so her blonde hair, which Halley could swear was lighter, stood out as much as the bright blue heels she wore. Her poses all seemed like one a model would make and insecurity filled Halley's heart. Who was she compared to this girl? She would never be as pretty as Sammy. It only took a few more envious minutes for a girl to replace Sammy and this one was even worse. Cassie had walked up against the grey background and her entire image radiated against the color. She was noticeably taller thanks to strappy white heels that made her legs stand out. Her hair was styled into a loose half up do that framed her face and the dress she wore was the one Halley had almost been given earlier. Looking closer now, she saw that it was mainly white lace flowers that ombred into pink, purple, and green towards the bottom. Put all together, Cassie seemed incredibly beautiful and grown as she smiled at the photographer.

As quickly as she had felt pretty, Halley's stomach churned as she wished nothing more than for this Selection to be over. Already her pretty and popular sister was outshining her again. Just as she was about to walk away, tell everybody she wasn't the right girl, Greer walked up to her. She smiled at Halley from underneath a light coat of edgy makeup and a simple navy dress with two toned heels to match it. What made Halley look twice at her somewhat friend was that the girl's curly hair now ended in about three shades of blue. Thinking of the shy girl's change in appearance was enough to get her mind off of her gorgeous sister so Halley gladly turned away to talk to Greer. She looked again at the girl before telling her, "That looks a lot more different than your outfit on the plane earlier. What happened?"

Mysteriously, Greer told her, "Fleur thought it would make me different than everybody else." Halley muttered a small 'oh' but the girl was already back in dreamland. Nodding stiffly to herself, Halley turned back to the picture area but Cassie had finished. The line moved slowly as more and more girls took their official first photos of the Selection. After three or four finished she was called up, yet she didn't want to move. Sighing, Halley moved in front of the blinding light bulbs knowing that she still had to do this. She tried to smile and move gracefully but nothing worked quite right for the photographer. It took only all of about 40 minutes for him to call in an assistant to pose her. Once they were done, Halley felt weird. It was as if she was taking horrid school photos once again. It was when she felt tears start to build behind her eyes that Halley finally quit trying to emulate Cassie. What was the point of being here? She would never be pretty enough to be a princess. It was in this moment that she promised to herself that at her first chance she would ask to go home. The Princes couldn't deny her that, could they?

.o0*0o.

As soon as she had seen the other girls on the plane, Hayden Nerissa Chaffin had tried to stop having the thoughts.

It was because of these thoughts that she had entered in the first place. With that in mind, the second Hayden saw the prettiest girl ever board, she turned her head back to the window and imagined being sucked into the wings. Even then Hayden couldn't keep from wondering about the ginger who had joined her. The girl had given a somewhat smirk to the one joining her- Bankston must be one of the double provinces, Hayden realized- before she walked over to Hayden. Knowing that now would honestly be the worst time to reveal her condition, Hayden smiled at the girl as if nothing in the world was wrong. When she sat, Hayden gave her a perfect "Hello" and her basic info- name, province, caste, and job.

Looking at her opposite closer, Hayden realized she seemed really happy. Her smile was not forced in the least and that just added to the beauty of her bright red hair and vivid green eyes. When she started speaking, Hayden tried to catch up as she had missed a bit from staring at her. "-I work as a teacher slash poet, thus I am a Three." She seemed to let out a chuckle as if the thought of talking about herself was funny. Hayden's heart broke as she realized that trying to not crush on the goddess in front of her was impossible. If it wasn't enough that she would make a sculptor weep, Hayden was positive that she had a personality straight out of a movie. So far she seemed not only happy but as if she wanted to make sure everybody around her was happy too. Still, the ginger was not who Hayden had been Selected for. A Prince, a _boy_ , was who she was meant to love. Knowing that she needed to remember that, Hayden continued talking to the girl to try and find fault within her.

That continued through a stop in two other provinces- Hudson and Denbeigh- where a shy girl with dark coloring and an albina each got on the plane. Later she would know the names but, at the moment, Elsie- the name she had almost missed- had been telling a story about choking on water. Tears in her eyes, she had tried to be polite to the new girls but she was already in full crushing mode. All she could think about was how Elsie seemed to be super down to earth and non judgy. She was the one person who could probably help Hayden get over her condition without leaving first.

Hours later, all she could think was _Oh, Lord._ Hayden and Elsie were sitting in adjacent makeup stations as they were beautified. She had already finished seeing as she already regularly put on makeup and did her hair yet she seemed to be fully invested in helping guide along Hayden's. Whenever they were choosing the colors of her eyeshadow, Elsie had been the one to suggest the brown and silver shades for her eyes. When they were putting her dark chocolate hair in curlers, Elsie had been the one to find the cute nail polish for her. With that set, they went to find their dresses. Along the way, she made comments on the girls around them such as, "Ooooh, that dress totally matches Valeria's eyes!" (which the violet hue totally did) and "She's like the only one I've seen in a two piece ensemble so far. That's so unique!"

Hayden loved her new friend even more with each snippet given to her. Once they reached the dresses section, Hayden noticed that all there was on the rack for her size was an light apricot dress or a pink crop top and floral skirt. When she reached for the two piece ensemble (there really was nobody else wearing one besides Roweina), Elsie appeared out of no where to slap the hand away. She instead pushed the other option towards her before holding up a blue and gold dress to her own body. She held back a gasp as the effect of red clashing against delicate blue and faded gold came out. It made her skin shine and the hair even more fiery. Elsie looked at Hayden before giggling and exclaiming, "This has to be the dress if you are that quiet." Hayden looked back to Elsie's eyes as she stammered but the other didn't care. She had already started laughing and walking to the changing booths.

Slightly shell shocked- she hadn't quite gotten past the thought that Elsie was indeed a magical creature and not human. There was too much stock in her being possibly a mermaid or even an Amazon-, Hayden grabbed the lace and ruffles dress to follow Elsie. It was while she was pulling the dress on that she realized that the buttons were in the back. A bit embarrassed, she poked her head out and called to Elsie, "Can you button me up?" Elsie didn't even think twice as she did, yet when her fingertip touched Hayden's bare back, she had to close her eyes lest her thoughts be revealed. When she finished, hayden let out a breath of relief and they went to finish their look.

The process of finishing the hair and finding the right accessories was painful now with Elsie near her. She felt naked near her in the short dress. When she was ready and Elsie grabbed her by the hand to pull her to the photo line, needles stabbed her heart. She didn't want to deal with the girl who she was now friends with. This had started to remind her of Tara and all of the messes that had made. Hayden couldn't, no- _wouldn't_ , lose another friend because of this curse. So she smiled and followed her. When Elsie spent her time twirling and looking beautiful, Hayden weakly smiled off to the side.

And then it was her turn to take a picture. This was something she hated worse than her infliction. With other girls, if they had a few bad photos, they didn't care. With Hayden, they all needed to be perfect. The problem was in that she couldn't find any way to smile and look beautiful. When Petra had taken her photos, the blue dress and sandals she wore made her look pretty. When Elsie had done it, she had been the goddess Hayden thought her to be. When Hayden took her photos, she was an ugly troll. However, after her long day, it would have to do. She knew that she would be pictured again and that she could hopefully do much better in the interviews. After all, she would need to.

.o0*0o.

 **Dear** UltimateMaxmericaShipper **and** Max merica **,** **I am so sorry for doing so bad on Halley and Hayden. And to readers, I'm sorry for taking so long. I was at a mixture of competition and then in bed sick so I really didn't want to write. However, I did, and here is the longest and yet the worst chapter so far.**

 **Anyways, we have a new title! The story is now titled** _Take My Hand, Take My Heart_ **. Anybody who read the old version of my old story will understand that I kept associating the title with that one and not this one. So I changed it :) This means I need a new cover. I would love any suggestions on one if you have them!**

 **Finally, thank you to new** **follower** PJLivingston **, follower and** **favoriter** blueskysforever **, and my lovely** **reviewers** MTJAS **,** UltimateMaxmericaShipper **,** Angel Princess 31 **,** Cookiedoodles168 **,** BellaRosa17 **,** MissAmeliaYoungU **,** Deeptha13 **, and** Maxerica15 (guest) **.**

 **Xoxo,**

 **fivesauce'n'YAbooks.**


	9. A Hidden and An Extroverted

_Cherry lips, crystal skies_  
 _I could show you incredible things_  
 _Stolen kisses, pretty lies_

\- "Blank Space", Taylor Swift

.o0*0o.

Megara Estelle Sutton was very much so mentally judging the other girls in her group.

The girls, all in a caste above hers, were smiling as they waited for their tour guide to arrive. Emilia, who she felt sorry for in a way as the girl was clueless, stood off to the side as she alternated messing with the skirt of her two piece ensemble and twirling her light brown hair. Though, Megara had to admit, the dark pink lace crop top and the blue and pink floral skirt were adorable. Athena talked to Rheagan while she seemed looked side to side, as if she felt the entire world needed to know that the mega actress was talking to her. The former girl wore a blue dress that did her zero favors with killer black gladiator heels while the latter wore a black and white dress with some hazardous neon pink platforms. She took in regards their basic fashion choices with that of Imogen, and she felt sorry that the girl was probably the last in her size in an off the shoulders light blue dress.

She herself, on the other hand, was going for fierce. She had made sure to tell her maids- Erica, the brain; Miranda, the thinker; and Anna, the sunshine- to give her something bold and not sweet, and how they'd obeyed. She twirled in her red gown and heels before she watched those still receiving makeovers scramble to ask what Prince Noah and Prince Liam liked. Every time that question was asked, Megara rolled her eyes yet again. In every sense, the Selection was the most anti-feminism, objectifying thing that the Illean monarchy could ever have supported. Of course, to the likes of King Andrew and Prince Noah, that probably just made it better.

Just as she started to mentally write her next series of articles for the gossip column- _The Truth About The Selection: An Inside, Unfiltered View of the 'Coveted' Competition_ \- the guide summoned the girls forward. The woman had graying blond hair that she obviously kept dyeing and tight skin that screamed fake. All in all, she looked like somebody who was working hard to keep relevant in a house of revolving staff. When she spoke, Megara instantly wanted to tune out as she told them, "Welcome to the Illean Palace. I am Shanna Henderly, your official Mannerisms Coach, and if you look to your right, you will see the rest of the grand corridor. This is where guests arrive whenever there is a ball..."

Off to the side, Megara mumbled, "This is where you will be kicked out if you displease us in anyway."

Shanna turned and frowned at Megara before leading them round more of the first floor. They stopped before a closed room where she told them, "This is the Men's Room. You will only enter when given express permission to do so." She quickly moved on, and after numerous long hallways, they finally made their way up the wide marble stairs to the second floor. When Imogen asked why they didn't use the elevator, Shanna simply replied, "That is only for the Royal Family."

Up the stairs their little feet went and Megara cursed every gilded piece of furniture she saw. For the same price as all of the expensive decorating and the ridiculous Selection, they could be alleviating the homeless problem affecting half the nation. Still, she had to pretend that she was here for all of their right reasons. At the top of the stairs, she looked at the hallway that branched off three ways- one short hallway straight ahead and two long ones to the left and right. Shanna gave the group a look over before turning sharply to the right. "Majority of your rooms are down this hallway, but Megara, yours is not."

Frustrated at having to lag behind so that the other four could get their rooms, Megara followed while the four girls all gasped at their rooms without so much of a glance back. Once Shanna lead her to her room, Megara could help but let out an "Ugh." The entire room was sweet and feminine, entirely was too frilly for Megara's taste. Shanna observed her and told her, "All you have to do to change your room's design is alert your maids. They will see to it's redesign." Megara nodded at her and listened to her reminder that dinner was at seven before Megara shut the door in Shanna's face.

She crossed the room and the first thing she did was grab the stupid flower arrangements and go to her balcony to dump them. The large white flowers and smaller purplish pink ones were pretty, yet they were nothing she liked. Not looking down, she dumped the first like white vase over and watched them fall. Only when she heard a, "Watch what you're doing!" did Megara look over the railing. Down there was the most gorgeous male specimen she had ever seen. He also happened to be wet from the shoulders up and pulling the tiny flowers off of him.

"Oops," she called down before shaking her head and dumping another pot of flowers. His blue eyes seemed full of rage until he noticed how she was dressed and he started profusely apologizing. She shook her head at him, letting him know, "I'm just a girl." more quietly, to herself, she promised, "I will not become some Royal's property." The boy tried to continue telling her he was sorry but she waved him away. He was a distraction. It didn't matter that the gardener was literally more attractive then the Princes, not to her. She, of all people, understood the risks of seeming to get close with someone other than who you were Selected for.

Back inside, she grabbed the stupid velvet box and looked at her name tag. Scoffing at how much money was wasted to commision 40 custom name badges, Megara set it down before she did something she'd regret. When her maids came in with her bag from home, she dismissed them to grab the journal in there. She only had three hours before dinner, so most likely her maids would be back in an hour to start prepping her. With that in mind, and a quick glance at her clock, she sat down and started writing.

 _It's only my first day in the palace, and yet I feel as if I am nothing more than cattle from Midston. Today I have been shipped from St. George to Angeles only to be poked and prodded with styling tools and makeup..._

.o0*0o.

There wasn't very much that could impress Lucia Rose Van Halen, but there was no doubt that the palace was impressing everybody in her little group during the tour.

Even though she had seen the pictures from magazines and glances of rooms from past _Report_ s, nothing could do justice to the gorgeous decorating and vastness of the place. Even Nyla and Mia, the other two Twos in the group, were looking around with wide eyes. Lucia was sure that they, just as she, had already been to the Palace for some ball or another. After all, Mia was a DJ she had worked with before and Nyla was a supermodel. However, you would think the structure was just as new to them as it was to Tessa and Juliette, the other two girls in her group of five. Shanna Henderly was leading through beautiful room followed by beautiful room on the first floor. Lucia's jaw wasn't dropping so much as it was permanently glued to the floor.

Juliette, who was becoming more familiar to her as the minutes went by, whispered loud enough for her to hear, "It's even more beautiful on the inside than it is on the outside." Lucia nodded to agree as they went down another long hallway. There were rooms with doors flung open down the length of it that Shanna named as they walked- the parlor, piano room, rose room, sun room, several offices of palace officials, and many more- each more elegant than the last. Her mind was still reeling when they were lead to the final room, one that had a sign on the door.

"Ladies," Shanna addressed to them before pointing to the room, "in here is the Women's Room of the palace. This is where you will be spending all of your time not spent in your rooms, at meals, during lessons, and on dates. Now, no men are allowed in here unless given permission, so all notes from the Princes to you in here will be delivered via a maid. Now, I must also warn you, the Queen and Princesses all frequent this room, so be on your utmost behavior at all times." With no reason why, Lucia looked over to Tessa, and at Tessa's mischievous tongue poking out, she started to giggle which turned to a laugh. Shanna gave them an evil eye before instructing the group to follow her to the stairs. "Not that some of you will appreciate, but I will be taking you to your rooms next."

When the other girls started to move, Tessa hung back so that she fell in step with Lucia. "So, strange to run into you here, Luckie Rose." Lucia put her finger to her lips and Tessa giggled before admitting, "I've styled you and your backup dancers for one of your performances before. Once you see the girl behind the crazy fashion, it's hard to remember the facade."

Lucia smiled at the truth before telling her, "I'm trying to go by Lucia here. I don't want my fame to affect the Princes's opinions of me." It seemed stupid to admit out loud, but it was what she wanted. Lucia loved her fans, and being famous was okay and all, but she wanted to get to know Prince Liam or Prince Noah- whoever she drew, though hopefully it was Noah- as regular people. She didn't want them to think of her as just Luckie Rose, international pop star with the trademark funky fashion.

Fortunate for her, Tessa seemed to understand this as she nodded before revealing "Well, I don't think that's Nyla's plan." Lucia gave her a minute to let it sink in before Tessa seriously whispered, "Please. Nobody brags about dating a French model and learning tricks in pleasure if they didn't plan on seducing someone. Plus, she's wearing a short, tight black and gold dress to show off her body. Try to tell me, a stylist, that that doesn't scream 'Look at me!'" Lucia tried to appear appalled but the wicked grin on Tessa's face had them laughing in seconds. When they start gasping for air from laughing so hard, Mia turned away from talking to Nyla to look at them and it started all over again. They were finally catching their breaths when Nyla shot them a look, to which Tessa commented, "Only guilty people look back." The pair tried to be good little Selected as they went to their rooms on the second floor. When Shanna showed them that they had rooms across from each other, they both gave a look before going into their rooms to explore.

When Lucia opened her door, the first thought she could form was, "Wow." She had stayed in many five star hotels on tour, yet none of them held a candle next to her suite for the Selection. The room was spacious and the bed off to the side was one she immediately ran to jump onto. It was soft and everything you could wish for in a bed. When she picked her head up to look at the rest of the room, she saw that she had a living area of sorts between the bed and a balcony. Around the room there were bouquets of pale pink roses and what she guessed to be a daisy in glass jars. What really caught her attention, however, was the small velvet box on the bedside table.

Going to it, she picked up the small note card beside it that simply read _Please wear at all times_. When she opened the box, Lucia found inside a simple yet beautiful gold name tag. Not wanting to anger anybody already, she clipped it to the top of her white crop top, careful to avoid the beautiful gold beading. Just as she wanted to go look at her bathroom and closet, a knock at her door drew her away from the rest of the suite. On the other side, Lucia found Tessa who was holding an identical tag but for her name on it. Except, instead of the 'Tessa' she expected, it instead had in the beautiful calligraphy 'Teressa'. Obviously upset, Tessa asked her, "Do you think they could change it for me? Like, I know that it shouldn't be a big deal, but I just really want it to say Tessa."

Lucia looked at her and then back at the tag before answering. "Is Tessa simply your nickname?" At her nod, Lucia handed the name tag back and told her, "I guess they might be able to. You'll have to find Shanna and ask her, though."

This seemed to pacify her as the next words out of her mouth were, "Did you see Mia's outfit? I just don't think she really had the right type of dress for her body. The pink and gold were pretty for her skin tone, though." Lucia smiled and the two then started giggling. Tessa came in and looked around Lucia's room before noting, "They're different. i kind of figured the rooms were all the same." She set down her name tag next to a vase of flowers and explained, "For example, the flowers in my room are a combination of lavender flowers and small white ones." Tessa gave it no thought before she turned around and soon the two were talking about the other outfit in their group- Juliette's simple black and white dress and heels- and how they had chosen their own dresses. Tessa explained that the sparkling, almost scale-like top of her dress called to her with her beach vibe look and Lucia revealed that she just liked the elaborate bead work on her pieces. It didn't take long for the two to move onto other topics, a friendship already blooming.

.o0*0o.

 **First as always, thank you to the creators of Megara and Lucia-** Artemis' Hunters **and** 4Love4love4 **\- for these awesome characters. I had such a blast getting to write them :)**

 **Secondly, anybody who follows me on pinterest will notice that there are two new boards up! I created one (Take My Hand, Take My Heart -The Fashion-) actually last chapter but haven't been advertising it. It has everyone's outfits for every chapter if they are mentioned, even if the clothes are not. The second board (Take My Hand, Take My Heart -Miscellaneous-) has just a bunch of random stuff like the hot gardener's FC and my inspo for rooms and the palace as well as prompts. Message me on Pinterest if you want to be added to the second one so that you can add stuff as well! Links are on my profile as well as you can just search my username (theYAfangirl17) and they should be towards the top of my boards. If you don't have a Pinterest, as far as I know, you should still be able to see the boards and my pins :)**

 **Ummmmm, I don't have anything else to announce, I guess. So, thank you to my new f** **ollowers** Cassiahhh **and** drakel19088 **and r** **eviewers:** 4Love4Love4 **,** Cookiedoodles168 **,** MTJAS **,** Maxmerica15 **,** UltimateMaxmericaShipper **,** BellaRosa17 **,** MaybeIt'sJustNotThatEasy **,** Angel Princess 31 **,** jenhen48 **,** wolfofstark **, and** Artemis' hunters x2 **.**

 **Until next weekend lovelies (which hopefully I have my schedule fixed by then)! Xoxo,**

 **fivesauce'n'YAbooks**


	10. One Avoiding and One Connecting

Cassiopeia Mae Weston had a serious problem.

It was time to prepare for the first dinner of the Selection, and let it sound vain, but she wondered whether to change into another dress for the meal. However, as her maids rushed in to do touchups, Cassie looked into the mirror and decided not to. While a new dress would be fun, she wanted to get downstairs fast so that she could meet other Selected and find friends. Once she reached the dining room, she noticed the table off to the side with the seating chart and name cards. With a hint of satisfaction at seeing Halley placed at a different table, Cassie grabbed her name card.

Once she reached 'Table 1'- her assigned table- she saw another girl already seated. From her angle, all Cassie could see was light brown hair. She cleared her throat, and as expected, the girl went from fidgeting with a cloth napkin and turned around. Cassie gave her a once over and immediately she was struck with just how pretty the girl was. Her eyes were large and hazel, the kind that were blatantly sincere. The dress she wore, a white geometric design with slips of see through, showed off the body of a girl that obviously worked out. Cassie eyed her simple black and white heels before extending her hand to introduce herself.

She took it and shook back while returning the introduction. "Wow, Cassiopeia is a pretty name. I can see why you'd go by Cassie, though. Uh, I'm Annika Walsh. Selected from Carolina." When she heard that the girl was a Two, she figured that Annika had to be famous. As bubbly as she was, Cassie had to find out more about who she wanted as her first friend.

She cocked her head at the girl to ask, "Have I seen you before? Like, are you an actress or musician?" Annika's smile seemed to fall for a second before responding that, no she was not famous for acting or singing, rather that she was a gold medalist in the Deity Games. Cassie's eyes widened as she took in the girl before her again. Recalling all she could about the previous Games a year ago, it clicked in her mind where she had seen this girl before. "Ohmigosh! Now I know why you seem familiar! You're the youngest person to ever win the gold medal for the 1500 meter event! Wait, why would you enter the Selection? Shouldn't you be training for the next Games?"

Annika seemed to brighten slightly once she realized that Cassie did not care about her avenue of fame and replied, "Firstly, I start training again next year for the Games. So as long as the Selection is done by next February, I'm good. Secondly, this is kind of embarrassing to admit, but I've never had a boyfriend before. So, I figured, Why not enter the Selection? I already have a gold medal so it's not like I need to train to earn a spot on the team again."

Cassie was about to respond with her reason when a girl approached them holding a name card. "Is this Table 1? You're blocking my view." Annika responded to the question before she sat down in the seat with the back turned to the Royal table. Not long after Cassie and Annika chose two spots close to the wall, a pair of girls- one with ginger hair and an array of freckles and one with coloring that reminded her of Halley- came to take their spots in what had to be coordinated pink dresses, though the black haired girl's was much more formal. They had had a third girl with them but she had seemed to be placed at a different table so they chose those seats closest to her. Next, in only a few minutes, a blonde, a girl who looked like Snow White, and a caramel brunette took the three remaining seats at the table.

The blonde looked around the table once before announcing- and stopping conversations around the table-, "I think we should all introduce ourselves. Like, I understand that these seats are only until the first elimination, but it makes the next few meals less awkward. So, to start, my name's Mia." Around the table in a clockwise manner, the girls all spoke their names- Cecily, Cammie, Imogen, Annika, Cassie, Aria, and Megara. After that, the smaller groups inside turned back to each and Cassie leaned closer to Annika.

"So, did you see the outfits? I think my favorite has to be Cecily's. Though, I have to admit, Mia's is a close second. There's something about pink fabric and sparkles."

Annika looked at everyone before informing Cassie, "Aria's floral is dark and I like that, but I also like the top lace on Cammie's. Overall, though, hands down Megara." She smiled at Cassie and before either could say something about Imogen, Shanna clapped her hands at the front of the room to make a speech.

"Hello, ladies! It is such a pleasure to see all of your smiling faces again. Now, as you may have noticed, the Royal Family is not dining with you tonight. Until Friday night when you draw which prince you will be competing for, they have all chosen to dine upstairs privately. Now, as for tomorrow's schedule, you all will be awakened at seven a.m. and are required to be downstairs at nine for breakfast and then a lesson over the history of the Selection. After that will be a lunch from noon to one. From one to six, you are free to either return to your rooms or stay in the Women's Room. At six thirty our dinner will commence, and at seven you are released for the night. As for tonight, you must be in your room at ten and lights out is eleven. Any questions?" The girls collectively either shook their head or muttered a small 'no' and Shanna beamed. "Excellent! Now, your dinner is served. The appetizer is a small caesar salad followed by an entree of three cheese ravioli covered in an alfredo sauce. Your dessert, if you choose to eat it, will be a blueberry pomegranate sorbet. Water and sparkling lemonade are provided for a drink."

Cassie watched as waiters appeared to serve the salads, but she noticed Annika frowning. Confused, she asked what was wrong, and Annika told her, "I haven't had carbs or something as sugary as lemonade in years."

Cassie smiled and motioned for two glasses of the offending lemonade. Once they were in her hands, she gave Annika the second one. "Then what are you waiting for? Bottoms up!" Cassie watched who she now knew for sure was going to be her friend made a blissful face as she drank. It made her realize that she could be upset about Halley being in the Selection as well, like she was on the plane during the tripping incident, or she could do just what she had planned upon entering- make friends, make memories, and fall in love. Annika stopped drinking long enough to let out a burp, and upon Shanna's damning look from her spot overviewing them, the two started laughing. It was like a snowball, just giggles at first, and then accumulated into the kind of laugh that tears were destroying their makeup. Once they could call down, Cassie held out her fist to Annika and got a fist bump in response. The Selection was going to be awesome with girls like Annika at her side.

.o0*0o.

Emilia Celine Coburn twirled in front of the three way mirror in her closet.

Her two piece ensemble was beautiful, something she seemed to instinctively know the old Emilia would have never worn. As she thought that, she mentally slapped herself. The whole reason she had entered the Selection was to escape trying to figure out who the old Emilia was. It had hurt to see all these people who obviously loved her- Mom, Dad, Wesley, and Alaska- without being able to recall a memory of them before waking up in the hospital. So, on a whim, she had entered. Now, though, as she saw the time and started rushing to get to the dining room, Emilia wondered if this was going to work. While it would be amazing to regain her memories from the first sixteen and a half years of her life, she had known that she needed to make new memories. After all, she had spent six months in a coma. She needn't spend the rest of her life in a waking haze.

Arriving into the dining room as one of the last, Emilia walked over to her table to find only one empty seat. Seeing no other option, she sat down between two girls- one with soft looking blonde hair in an updo and a brunette- and smiled at them in greeting. The brunette noticed first and returned the smile. "Emilia" she whispered to her. The girl responded with her own name- Halley- before the blonde turned to Emilia.

"Halley is a pretty name. I'm Corin." She gave Halley a soft smile before looking Emilia straight in the eyes. "What color are your eyes? It's hard to tell in this lighting?" Emilia told her what was printed on her form, blue-green, and Corin grinned. "You are so lucky! I have always wanted blue eyes."

Halley leaned forward a bit to join the conversation as she told them, "If it makes you feel better, Corin, I would kill for blonde hair that pretty." Corin thanked her, and just like that, the three were instant friends. They talked for what seemed hours before Shanna stopped them to deliver her speech. Emilia had to hold in her laughter as Corin made sneaky, sarcastic comments throughout about what Shanna could do with her lessons. Yet, though she liked to laugh about how silly they seemed with Corin and Halley, Emilia was grateful for the history lesson. Part of the problem with losing her memories was that she had also unfortunately lost everything she knew about the Royal Family and anything about the Selection beyond what was in her letter.

Feeling the frustration start to build again, Emilia observed the rest of her table as the waiters started serving. One of the girls was an albina if the skin was any indication, two blondes other than Corin, a girl who looked to be New Asian, and one who might be from the southern provinces. She would have introduced herself to them but that was the moment the waiters set her food down in front of her. Emilia made a little noise at how good the salad look, yet it was the ravioli that stole her breath. It looked absolutely amazing. Corin wasted no time in digging in while Emilia and Halley looked at their dishes and that caused them to giggle. She looked up guiltily and wiped off some excess sauce from around her lips before stating matter of factly, "This is amazing, but it is nothing compared to my mom's pastries."

Emilia took a bite of the ravioli, and while she had to admit it was rich, she surprised herself by saying, "There's this little pizzeria in Sota that has this amazing personal pan pizza. I loved going there. It was always a treat. I always got mine topped with..." She stopped speaking and looked down at the hand holding her fork. It was trembling slightly. Where had that little nugget of information just come from? A week ago she only knew her name and basic info like her favorite color. How had she started talking about her favorite food? Not wanting to be obvious that something was wrong, she took another bite of the pasta. Halley and Corin were watching her but they didn't push her. Halley just started talking about her favorite food- a sweet potato gnocchi- and Emilia felt forgiven.

By the time the entrees were finished, the trio had started talking to the entire group- Tessa, Ophelia, Valeria, Sabine, and Juliette. While the last three had been painfully shy, Tessa and Ophelia had seemed nice enough. They kept the conversation going until the desserts arrived. It was then that some, such as Emilia, Juliette, and Valeria left to go to bed early, and some such as Corin, Tessa, and Sabine, stayed to eat their dessert and the abandoned ones. Emilia gave Corin a smile before she started walking towards the exit. Just as she was in the hallways again, she felt a hand on her arm. She turned to look at who owned it and Halley was there.

She seemed to be wondering something. Her brow was furrowed and they made it to the stairs in silence before Halley stopped Emilia. Pulling her to the side, Halley cocked her head a bit before speaking. Squinting, she asked her, "Are you okay? I don't want to sound rude or prying, but it seemed like you kept getting lost in your mind."

It touched Emilia that Halley had only known her for dinner and seemed to understand what she was feeling better than her family, but in the end she just waved the girl off. It was starting to get late with her body still adjusting to being conscious and the time difference. Halley said goodnight as she split to her room and Emilia crashed onto her bed upon arriving in her own. Adele, the head maid, appeared from her small room to look at Emilia. In one glance she seemed to understand what was needed and almost ringed for her companions- Miranda and Alessia before Emilia stopped her. While they would be coming up from their chambers to help her wind down for the day, she would hopefully already be well into her bath. These thoughts in mind, she snuggled into one of her soft pillows. She was drifting off when Adele gently woke her.

Her thoughts started to run crazy as she eventually stood up to strip out of the fine wear. It might be mortifying to some of the other Selected to be stripped naked in front of practically strangers, yet when you go in for a full body checkup every week, you start to lose that modesty. Once naked, she gratefully slipped her aching muscles into the hot water. Adele must have slipped something into the water as it smelled like happiness in her bathroom. As she soaked, Emilia thought over the events of the day. Her plane ride had been boring, though it had been cool to meet Thea Tate. The only thing besides meeting her that had been memorable was that they had two doubled up provinces. Her makeover had been fun, she guessed, and her tour group didn't make any moves to include her.

At the end of the day, Emilia felt pure, simple hppiness at being stuck with the seat between Corin and Halley. She had no idea what it was going to be like going into the Selection and they made her feel included in the craziness. As she let her hair twirl in the water and she imagined it to belong to a mermaid, Emilia smiled for the first time since waking up in that hospital. Maybe that horrible car crash led to some good after all.

.o0*0o.

 **Hi :) First off, thank you to** UltimateMaxmericaShipper **and** MTJAS **for Cassie and Emilia. Honorable mentions to the creators of the friends-** Headless Gummy Bear **(Annika),** Maxie **again (Halley) and** MTJAS **again (Corin).**

 **Sorry for being such a poop emoji about updating. I got to see my sister this weekend and she neglects speaking to me so I mostly spent time catching up and goofing around with her. And I also saw** _Gods of Egypt_ **and** _Deadpool_ **and both are pretty cool. I mainly felt like awesome sauce for buying my own** _Deadpool_ **ticket though.**

 **There is a** TMH,TMH **tumbr! You can find it at 2tmh . tumblr . com! I am really proud of this, everybody. It has every face claim and outfit even if they are not directly mentioned in the chapter!**

 **To my new followers,** AnnaR5 **and** smileybug **, Hi!**

 **For my kick butt new favoriters** obbsessedpleaseimdevoted **and** smileybug **, XL Shamrock Shakes to you!**

 **And a beautiful ice cream cake to my reviews, who are sure to let me know when they hate a girl. Kisses to** Artemis' hunters x3 **,** MTJAS **,** Headless Gummy Bear **,** Cookiedoodles168 **,** 4Love4Love4 **,** Max mericax2 **,** BellaRosa17 **,** MissAmeliaYoung x3 **,** Angel Princess 31 **,** wolfofstark **,** **and** jenhen48 **.**

 **I don't know what else to say.**

 **Xoxo,**

 **fivesauce'n'YAbooks**


	11. One Exhausted and One Excited

_I'm on my guard for the rest of the world_  
 _But with you I know it's no good_

\- "Sparks Fly", Taylor Swift

.o0*0o.

Devery Elaine Everard was exhausted from her first day in the palace.

Firstly, she had been woken up at six to prep for the day. Even though Shanna had promised them until seven a.m., her maids insisted that the early time was for the best. Even so, Dev had been annoyed throughout her prep. They had woken her up early just so that they could put her in a simple pink and white polka dot dress? Don't get her wrong, the dress was cute with the little jacket and simple heels they gave her. But it was not worth waking up early. If they had done something to hair hair other than straighten the short blonde locks, she might have forgiven them. As it was, she was in nude makeup with straight hair and a simple outfit. Not worth waking up early to prepare it.

Once she arrived down at breakfast, she saw that her entire table was in varying degrees of formal. Nyla was in a pretty magenta dress with golden embellishments and sparkly heels. Greer wore a more laid-back watercolor dress with chunky white heels, whereas Rowenia was in a casual dress with a striped top and peach skirt. When Dev checked, she saw the Rowenia wore sandals. Athena was in a tight black dress with a lace cutout on the side that was entirely too revealing for the morning, especially with nobody to impress around. Lee was in a nude dress covered with a blue lace pattern that had a structured bustier and puffed out skirt paired with silver heels. To end off the table, Winter wore a black dress with a lace back and gold belt to match her black and gold heels while Faylinn was in a part pink and light blue, part black and white dress with pastel heels.

She had made a noise in the back of her throat and the only girl she really talked to, Faylinn, looked up from her plate of gourmet French toast to smile at her. When she sat down, Dev was immediately brought her own plate. Looking down at it, Dev was satisfied with the choice she had made last night when a menu had been brought to her. The dark chocolate raspberry French toast in front off her looked infinitely better to her than Faylinn's strawberry cheesecake, Nyla's caramel banana, and the other five's lemon blueberry French toast. The orange juice she'd chosen had also been delicious, and Dev had missed it when they had been herded into the "History of the Selection" lesson.

Shanna held them captive for two hours as she explained what Dev guessed everybody knew. The Selection was a time honored tradition that had gone on for all of Illea's history. The only time one was not held was during the reign of Queen Eadlyn and her Prince Consort Kile Woodwork when their daughter, Princess Witney, chose instead to marry her childhood love. After that, the Selection continued to be held for the Prince or Princess inheriting the throne. Some of the greatest Queens Illea had ever known- Queen Amberly Schreave, Queen America Schreave, and of course the dearly departed Queen Kathleen Illea- had all been girls who had won their respective Selections. In the entirety of its course, only two girls had ever been tried for treason for fornicating with someone who was not their Prince- Marlee Carter and Heidi Sutton. Dev thought she saw a girl tense in the corner of her eye, but the lesson had moved past that part before she could investigate. Shanna seemed to be done when she told them the Selection they were currently in was the Twentieth Selection, and therefore a grand honor. Dev had almost cried in relief when they had been released for lunch.

Unlike their breakfast, the entire table was served the same meal like the previous night. The meal, which had to be once again gourmet, consisted of curried apple cranberry chicken salad lettuce wraps and a bowl of gazpacho. The meal had some of the lower caste girls at her table poking at the food until the others had first taken a bite. Dev wanted to roll her eyes, but Faylinn was among those girls and she seemed pretty decent to Dev. The entire table made light talk over their glasses of iced honey mint green tea which bored her almost as bad as the lessons. The only redeemer up to that point had been the dessert at lunch- an over sized orange almond cupcake.

After lunch, Dev had chosen to retreat to her room versus go to the Women's Room, and that was where she currently was. Her maids were currently designing her gown for the _Report_ tomorrow night, or at least they were supposed to be. Idris and Ivory seemed to be fighting with Monica playing referee. Sighing, Dev put down her journal of ideas to expand her business to go overlook what they were creating for her. When she got there, she saw that Idris was pushing pieces of her platinum blonde hair that fell out of the messy bun from her eyes as Ivory touched up her perfect braid. Monica looked up from her sketchpad to smile at Devery while she noticeably stepped in between the twins. "Good afternoon, Lady Devery. What can we help you with?"

She gave her maids a look before speaking. "I wish to see what you're designing for tomorrow night. I want to make sure the gown I select my Prince in is perfect." Monica gave her the pad and Dev returned to her perch on the bed. The sketch was no where near completion, yet she could tell what direction they were heading in. She motioned for Monica to take the sketchpad back before she stretched and asked, "What time is it? I'm growing exponentially bored."

Ivory replied with a fast, "Four forty-five," before she looked up to take in Dev's appearance. "Would you like to change before the evening meal, madame?"

Dev took in her dress. She had tossed the jacket as soon as returning earlier, and the skirt had multiple wrinkles in it. She smiled at her waiting maids and sweetly replied, "Please. If you don't mind, bring me something darker. I would like too make a different impression tonight." Tonight would be the last dinner of not having to impress the Royals and Selected. Plus, there had been talk that afternoon at lunch to make tonight's dinner formal. Her day outfit had been cute, but Dev wanted to make her first formal look fierce. Dev smiled at her maid while they went to find her long dress. Tonight, she would shine.

.o0*0o.

Elsie Gisella Lorenia Oliverat had been having the best day.

True, the two fast friends were not seated with each other. That didn't stop them from prepping for the dinner together, however. Hayden had been the one to suggest her lavender chiffon dress, and Elsie was in love with how soft it was against her skin. As she sat and let Becka arrange her hair into an up do, Elsie thought over the day. The breakfast had been delicious- strawberry cheesecake French toast forever- and Hayden had kept the boredom away during their lesson. The lunch had been interesting yet delicious, and she had spent the afternoon in the Women's Room becoming friends with other girls. Now, as she watched who she considered her best friend get ready, Elsie went into la la land.

She was snapped out of it soon enough, and after gazing in awe at the mirror, went downstairs. The dining room was full of girls in finery and Elsie looked at her table. Scarlett wore an elaborate mermaid dress with her hair in a ponytail, while Marsden rocked an edgy black call gown with her hair in a cool half do. Persephone was in a sweet pink silk dress with a cute up do while chatting with Sammy in a draped blue dress and another half do. Emery wore a tight black dress with a white lace black while her silver hair was up, whereas Kacelyn wore a sexy red dress with her hair partially braided back. Elsie had only said goodbye to Hayden and headed towards her group when she saw Reiza. The girl was in a metallic dress with loose waves and Elsie felt pride. When discussing going formal that afternoon, Reiza had been incredulous. Now, she looked like a dark angel. She wanted to see why Reiza had turned around, however, she was stopped by Shanna's calling for dinner to begin.

Seated, the girls awaited their food. Elsie took a sip of the drink as Marsden read the menu aloud, saying, "We will be served pear and brie crostinis for the appetizer. The entree is blackberry hoisin ginger pork tenderloin with asparagus amandine and potato stacks. Then the dessert is mini chocolate peanut butter cheesecakes. Our drinks are blackberry sage coolers." Everybody at the table seemed at least a bit impressed at the menu except for Kacelyn. She just looked like somebody had told her to bomb an elementary school.

"This is horrible. Like, are they trying to make me fat?" Kacelyn not so subtly passed her cooler off to a waiters and took a tiny bite of a crostini. It was in that moment that one of the photographers came by to request they smile. Elsie tried to hold back her laugh as Kacelyn picked up a napkin to spit the bite back into. She gave the photographer a practiced smile and even Reiza smiled at how bratty she was being.

She seemed to be upset once the photo was taken and reviewed, so Persephone asked her, "What's wrong, Kacelyn? I mean, besides the food."

By this point, the plates had been picked up and their entree delivered. She poked at the pork before abruptly standing up. "I don't want this to sound mean, but if any of you want this, you can have it. I need to go write my agent and see if she can make the palace understand I have a strict diet to adhere to." She had only made it to the door before Marsden let loose a, "Thanks. Nobody wanted you here anyways." Kacelyn turned around to give them an evil eye and Elsie honestly thought that a fight was about to begin. Luckily, though, a guard appeared to escort her away. Elsie let out a breath of relief and watched as Marsden took Kacelyn's abandoned plate. Persephone looked at Marsden tiredly, yet Marsden simply took a bite of the pork. "What?" she asked Seph after some more staring. "She's wasting food that could be feeding orphans in Clermont right now."

The rest of dinner was uneventful as the remaining seven ate their food. Upon finishing her dessert, Elsie rang for another mini cheesecake to be sent to her room and she left the other Selected. It wasn't that she didn't feel like socializing so much so as that her feet were on fire from constantly wearing heels and that her hair do was giving her a migraine. Leaving the dining room, Elsie saw Hayden stand up to join her, but Elsie gave her a sad smile in return. Hayden seemed to be having fun and she did not want to ruin that.

On her walk back, Elsie took the long way and skipped going up the main staircase. Diana, another one of her maids, had showed her a servant's staircase that morning when she was running late, and she would rather take it. The stairs were not opulent like the main staircase, yet they took her by the music room which she loved. While she may not play any instruments herself, the piano reminded her of her old teacher, Melissa. Maybe if she stayed in the Selection long enough, she would be able to convince- fingers crossed- Prince Liam to find her a piano teacher. Then she could at least learn the simple songs Melissa would hum around the classroom.

Upon passing the door, Elsie saw that the lights were on, something she had yet to see. She walked towards the crack in the door, and what she saw shocked her. Seated on the piano bench was Prince Noah playing what she guessed to be a scale. For a moment she considered walking into the room to compliment him, yet something made her turn from the door and return her trek to the back staircase. He looked so unlike what was publicized in the news that she wondered if she had ever seen him at all. How was the boy she saw giving himself up to music the same as the one infamous for his romantic trysts with the palace staff?

Elsie debated this until she walked into her room and slipped out of her shoes. Her hairdo was already ruined, so she tossed the Bobbi pins in her hand aside and fell onto her bed. The maids had left her a similar sheet to the last night with choices for breakfast, and after Elsie circled what she wanted, she set it onto the bedside table. Rosalynn slipped out of her adjourning room and started her evening bath. Elsie smiled at the woman who reminded her so much of Melissa before she walked to the bathroom and slipped out the dress. She was ready to fall asleep and start another day in the competition.

.o0*0o.

 **Hi :) So this is a lot closer to my promised schedule than it has been in a while. Thanks to** Artemis' hunters **and** MaybeIt'sJustNotThatEasy **for creating Dev and Elsie, respectively.**

 **Good news! The drawings are going to be in either the next chapter or the following, so yay! Also, sad news. This chapter was the last of introducing girls, and the ones used for POVs will be the main ones until the Elite. The pairs they are in will change, but not the girls.**

 **Thank you so much to my new followers and favoriters, or wait, I didn't get any. Oh well :/** **Reviewers who get a fresh, amazing pizza-** MTJAS **,** TheImaginatore x2 **,** Guest **,** BellaRosa17 **,** MissAmeliaYoung **,** Cookiedoodles168 **, and** Artemis' hunters **.**

 **Remember to check out the Pinterest boards and the tumblr for TMH, TMH- 2tmh . tumblr . com :) It has the outfits and starting now the meals too because food porn. Also, my ask is open on it so you can totally drop questions about anything! There has already been hints dropped in response to who will be eliminated first ;)**

 **Xoxo,**

 **fivesauce'n'YAbooks**


	12. A Drawing and A Disappointment

_All I know at the end of the day_  
 _Is you want what you want and you say what you say_  
 _And you'll follow your heart even though it'll break_

\- "End of the Day", One Direction

.o0*0o.

As the girls were herded backstage to wait, Thea grew irritated and tired.

Her scalp ached from the ballerina bun it had been pulled into. Sighing, she adjusted her stance so that her heels didn't kill her. Seconds passed and she sighed again. Time seemed to be slowing as she stood in the line of girls waiting for their grand entrance. They had been told that morning at breakfast that they were to cross the stage when their name was called by the stage manager. Thea had listened to the girls sitting around her make sounds of excitement as she thought of how it vaguely reminded her of cattle being auctioned off. Now, standing and waiting, Thea felt the flutters of nervousness. It was not because they were going to see the Royal Family for the first time in person. It was not because she would draw her prince that night. It was because she was going to paraded on national, and even international, TV.

The line started moving one girl at a time. Thea brushed the pieces of her hair left out to fame her face into their place and smoothed down her orange skirt. Her maids had wanted her to wear green tonight, but she fell in love with the poofed orange skirt and white crop top when she first saw them. Once she was wearing it, Candice- the only maid she had who liked the job -had grudgingly agreed that it brought out her hair better than any of the prepared green dresses. So, in lieu of a green dress and jewelry, she stood in probably one of the simplest outfits selected by the Selected.

As Thea moved closer as a brunette went on stage, she found herself next to a blonde who was, for lack of a better phrase, not as skinny as the others in the Selection. The girl wore a red dress that hid it well, though. It gave her serious curves as the top framed her nicely and the many red ruffles began at her hips. Her hair was in simple vintage waves and neutral makeup supported the idea that her dress was the focus point of the outfit. When Thea was done analyzing, she looked up to see that the sunny blonde had done the same to her. With both of them finished, the blonde stuck her hand out and whispered, "I love your hair. It's so fiery."

Thea smiled at the compliment and returned the handshake with, "Thank you. I'm Thea Tate."

"Persephone Dalton, but you can call me Seph. My real name is annoying to say after, like, three times," was the blonde's responding introduction. She struck up a conversation with Thea as they waited, and she found herself thankful for it. Whereas the minutes took forever to go bye, now they seemed to be flying. Not before long, Thea heard her name called. Squaring her shoulders, Thea plastered on a fake smile and started her trek.

The moment you see the camera follow you, that is the moment that you start to internally panic. Thea knew this as she discreetly searched for the marker of where she would stand. Once she found it, her smile slipped into one of relief. Standing on it, Thea repeated her name and province before she was motioned to a step platform like seating arrangement. Thea took her place at the next empty seat and watched as the rest of the Selected paraded themselves and folded into the seats. By a stroke of timing, Seph ended up in the seat below her. Before she took it, coming up the stairs, Seph had made a silly face at Thea and she had almost lost her still face.

She recovered it as the host of the _Report_ , Henry Penst, announced the ending of the Selected girls and started on the current events. Thea took this opportunity to catch a glance of the Royals. From what she saw, it seemed that it was the King, Queen, and all of the children except for the youngest two and Princess Adelaide. King Andrew seemed to be paying attention while Queen Eleanor scolded Prince Ethan and Princess Poppy for squirming in their seats. The twin princesses were bored, and they showed it. Prince Mason seemed to be trying to discreetly read something, and Prince Liam was trying to be like his father. It was Prince Noah who caught her eye. He was relaxed in his chair, a drink in hand, inspecting the Selected. Almost as if drawn by her look, Prince Noah turned to her. He caught her stare for a few seconds before Thea broke it to look down.

When she looked back up, it was because Henry had finished his regular announcements over the state of the nation. He called for a commercial break and Thea stood to stretch her legs. She had used the previous breaks to talk to Seph, but if she sat any longer without standing, her butt would be numb and her limbs asleep. It lasted a bit before the countdown to On Air began and she sat down. It was time to pick.

Henry, or rather the crew, had set up a large glass bowl that Henry announced contained exactly 40 slips- 20 with Prince Noah written on it, 20 with Prince Liam. He then proceeded to tell the Selected that they would reach in, grab a slip, and hand it to him "to verify". Thea rolled her eyes at the entire spectacle. This really was no better than them drawing sticks. Once their Prince was announced, they would walk over to one side of the stage (with signs off screen for them to see) and wait for everybody to finish drawing. Once his spiel was finished, he went over to the Princes for a quick last minute interview which was composed of Prince Liam saying the right thing and Prince Noah saying the wrong. Then, Henry turned to the Selected and asked for volunteers.

Surprising herself, and maybe the others, Thea stood up. Henry announced, "Lady Thea, please step forward and tell us something about yourself." She walked down the steps and he escorted her to just to the side of the bowl.

Thinking for a minute, Thea turned to the camera to deliver her answer. "I have an amazing brother at home. And, while this Selection is already so grand, I honestly cannot wait to see him again. I might not have had him in my life for twelve years, but now I can't imagine it without him following me around. Love you, Scott!" Thea had said the last sentence in a hurry since one of the producers were waving her on, and Henry caught the cue. He motioned for her to pick, and Thea turned to the glass bowl holding her fate. She hadn't even wanted to join the Selection, but she needed to know who she would have to plead to in order to go home. Hoping for Prince Liam, she put her hand in, and after a second of fishing, plucked one out. Henry took it from her, and Thea felt her heart race as he drew out the suspense.

.o0*0o.

Mia couldn't catch her breath as she sat waiting for her turn.

She fidgeted with the skirt of her pastel blue gown much like the girls surrounding her. Her trip across the stage had been uneventful, thankfully, but that didn't stop her from being scared of who she would draw. She had met both of the Princes at some charity event or another when she was nine years old. There, they had both seemed pretty nice. Now, eight years later, Mia was sure that she would be meeting two different boys. Or, maybe just one. If the news was to be trusted, Prince Liam was going to still be the same friendly, responsible kid she had met. Prince Noah, on the other hand, was broken like her.

So far, seven girls had drawn and the eighth was beside Henry. Mentally, she kept track of who went to who. Prince Noah so far had Lady Thea, Lady Ophelia, and Lady Dahlia. The girls who had drawn Prince Liam so far had been Lady Winter, Lady Hayden, Lady Faylinn, and Lady Aria. As the eighth girl- Lady Elsie- started walking to Mia's left, she added her to the list for Prince Liam. Henry, ready for the next victim, called down Lady Emery, and Mia took a breath of relief. She wanted to pick already, yet she also was scared of what would happen if she accidentally drew Prince Liam instead. The first girl had obviously drawn the one she didn't want, and Mia was wishing that it would not happen to her.

Taking yoga breaths, Mia watched as Lady Emery drew Prince Noah. And the Henry was calling her name. Mia adjusted her golden belt and took the trip down the stairs. By Henry's side, she told him about the four instruments she could play and he made a joke about how her DJ-ing should count as it's own instrument. She smiled at all of the right parts and looked angelic when she needed to. And then he let her choose. Saying a prayer to any god, she put her hand in the bowl and drew the first slip she felt.

Henry took the slip and it felt like a really short wait before he told her, and all of Illea, "Lady Mia Shaugessy from Angeles, I am pleased to announce that you will be competing for Prince Liam." Mia took the slip of paper back stunned and started walking to her spot. Her heart died with each step she took. Once she was in line with the others, the girl beside her asked her, "Are you okay? You look pale."

Mia glanced at the girl, who was slightly blurry, and told her, "It's just my makeup. I'm fine. Really." She would have said more, but she swayed in her heels and felt and her arm shoot out to grab the girl. The last thing Mia saw before the floor was a flash of red hair and silver fabric.

Waking up hurt. Mia raised her hand to touch a spot on her head that was the worst, but a hand pushed hers away. An unfamiliar male voice explained to her, "Don't touch it. It'll only hurt worse." Mia opened her eyes to see a pair of brown eyes looking back at her. She blinked a few times, and they were still there. She was about to mumble something when a nurse came to her side. "Hello, Lady Mia. Hello, Prince Liam. If you don't mind, I'm going to take her vitals, make sure Mia is feeling better." Mia nodded and adjusted her position so that she looked calm, but inside she was wild. She must have fainted and been brought to the infirmary. But why was _freaking_ Prince Liam there too? She tried to hide it as the nurse inspected her, but it must have fell.

He also adjusted his seat and started talking. "Lady Mia, after you fainted, we had a medic check your vitals before moving you here. I felt that it would be best for me to come talk to you in person." At this point, Liam started squirming. "Lady Mia, if you prefer, I can talk to Noah and try to switch you with another girl. I mean..."

Mia held her hand up to stop him. "Prince Liam, do you think that's the reason I fainted? Because I drew you and not your brother?" Prince Liam did even bother looking at her and that's what hurt Mia the most. Feeling like she owed him an explanation, Mia told him, "I won't try to lie to you that I wanted to draw Prince Noah. But, Your Highness, that's just because Prince Noah has flaws. He's broken behind the bad reputation, something I can relate to, except for the reputation part. You? Well, you're perfect."

Prince Liam let out a chuckle at her accusation. He turned to her, finally looking at her again, and asked, "You think I'm perfect? Lady Mia, I'm not going to lie and say that I had no idea who you were before you were Selected. I mean, they'll probably deny it, but the twins are huge fans of yours. I mean, Sidney cried for three days because her mom said that they wouldn't ask you to DJ for her birthday party. Plus, not only are you talented and beautiful, you founded your own charity. That's pretty intimidating." Prince Liam smiled but looked down at his hands like he was expecting Mia to bite him.

Astounded, Mia had no idea what to reply. Her she was, being called intimidating by the _Prince_ of Illea. How did even think that? Sure, she could remix songs and campaign to pay for lower caste students to go to school, but he could change laws or start a war. Finally, a reply came out of her in the form of a giggle. He looked at her as she continued and soon the too were laughing for no reason other than that the other was. Once she could breathe, Mia stuck her hand out to him and offered, "If you can try not to be so intimidated by me, I can definitely try to fall in love with you and not your brother."

Liam sealed the deal before her nurse came back to dismiss Mia. As she got out of the bed, she picked up the high heels with all intentions of walking back barefoot when she heard Prince Liam telling her to stop. When she looked at him to see why, he came close to her and told her to put her arms around his neck. While she was asking why, he suddenly scooped her up in his arms. Mia let out a squeal and the nurse laughed as he carried her out of the room. Confused, Mia asked him, "Why are you carrying me? I've been cleared. That means I can walk."

Prince Liam gave her a grin and replied, "Because you are a damsel in distress, and as a prince, it's my duty to take care of you."

.o0*0o.

 **And she finally updates on a Saturday again! Go me!**

 **Thank you guys so much for your sweet reviews! This of course pertains to** Angel Princess 31 x2 **,** MTJAS **,** BellaRosa17 **,** Artemis' hunters **,** MaybeIt'sJustNotThatEasy **,** Cookiedoodles168 **, and** Idril of the Mountains **, whose review actually made my day. Also, thank you to** Idril of the Mountains **for being my new favoriter/follower! Then there's** lovewords **who followed :)**

 **So, for everybody who might have been confused, here are the main girls until the Elite are chosen!**

MissAmeliaYoung **'s Thea Tate**

UltimateMaxmericaShipper **'s Cassie Weston and Halley Adaire**

Cookiedoodles168 **'s Mia Shaugessy**

Artemis' hunters **'s Megara Sutton, Dev Everard, Vivienne Danvers, and Emery Teach** (What can I say? She creates amazing characters!)

MTJAS **'s Emilia Coburn and Corin Garrick**

MaybeIt'sJustNotThatEasy **'s Elsie Oliverat**

4Love4Love4 **'s Lucia Van Halen**

Max merica **'s Hayden Chaffin and Annalee Clark**

Swag Giraffe **'s Faylinn Circus**

Thedaffodilqueen **'s Marsden Wallace**

 **To the creators of those girls, can you please either PM me or leave in the review what label you think best describes your girl(s). Some examples are Marlee as The Favorite and Celeste as The Diva.**

 **Updating the tumblr now :)**

 **Xoxo,**

 **fivesauce'n'YAbooks**


	13. A Goddess and A Siren

_Dress is catching the light_  
 _In her eyes there's no lies, no lies_  
 _There's no question, she's not in a disguise_

\- "What A Feeling", One Direction

.o0*0o.

Out of all of the girls, Megara probably had the outfit most likely to offend the Royals.

Then again, Vivienne was in a gauzy white revealing dress that might offend them as well. Though, whereas Vivienne could claim the dress was to enhance her angelic appearance, Megara wore a gown fit to show she could be royalty. The gown was simple in shape but made up for it with the detailing of the golden embellishments. Paired with the laurel hair piece across her crown, she could have been a modern update of a Grecian goddess. After Mia's fainting episode, she needed the outfit to stand out from the other girls.

The whole spectacle all seemed to Megara to be something Mia had planned for attention. Nobody ever _actually_ fainted at a moment as perfect as the one Mia did. Apparently, the only person who seemed to share her opinion was Vivienne, who had muttered "Attention whore" after a fake gasp. Prince Liam, seeing as he was the person now responsible for her, rushed to take her from poor Elsie's grasp. The girl sighed with relief and went to ask him something, and Megara stifled a laugh as he ignored her to speak with the medics. Quickly, he disappeared with her to what was likely the infirmary just as a stage manager started new countdown to On Air.

Once the red light was on, Henry called down girls to draw. By the time the next break came, a good bit had picked their prince. The new ones for Prince Liam were Cecily, Annika, Lucia, Rowenia, Persephone, and Sabine. Prince Noah, who had seemed to take the majority from Prince Liam, was going to be able to add Cassiopeia, Kacelyn, Devery, Lasika, Greer, Nyla, and Juliette to his list. Annoyed with how some of the girls seemed so excited to have their Prince, Megara waited to be called down.

Henry, not getting that she was ready, chose one of the girls from her meal table- Cammie -and the girl almost ran down to where he was. There, she breathlessly spoke of her bakery back in Zuni and how much she loved cupcakes. Henry stopped her in the middle of her spiel and tactfully asked her to choose, which she did. Giggling as he read aloud Prince Noah, Cammie was blushing when she looked his way. Prince Noah, on the other hand, just looked indifferent. The next girl, Samantha, was more subdued as she spoke a sentence in German and chose Prince Liam.

Megara, ever bored, decided to compare Samantha's gown and that of the girl before her. They both wore a princess gown, and that was where the similarities ended. Samantha's was a nude color that its skirt flared out with only a slight detailing of some lace over the bodice. Cammie's had a storm of detailing on the bodice that blended out onto the skirt with was poofed from the waist down. The hair, Samantha's blond up-do and Cammie's red half-do, also spoke volumes about the girl. Samantha's sleek simple knot made her appear more mature than Cammie with the curls, braid, and hair piece.

She would have started comparing more of the girls, who now had seats from the disappearing Selection section lined up, but Henry finally called her down. Giving her best smile to the camera, Megara tried to figure out what made her special. She could have mentioned that she wrote an anonymous gossip column, but then she wouldn't be able to document her time in the Selection. Instead, deciding sympathy would work, she told Henry that she had never met her parents and was raised by her Aunt Crystal and Uncle Lance. The studio audience made sympathetic responses and Megara moved to the bowl.

Ready to know who she would be ripping to shreds, Megara dipped her hand in the bowl and grabbed one of the first papers she felt. Confident she could handle either Prince, Henry took the slip from her. This time, as he read the Prince, Megara did not have to force the smile on her face. As he announced it was Prince Noah, Megara started writing her titles in her head. _Playboy Prince Noah Behind Closed Doors. Illea Being Led by Prince Noah? No Thanks._ While Megara strutted to the right to join the other girls for Prince Noah, she could feel the possibilities in her bones.

Cammie was beside her and the girl couldn't seem to keep still. Megara gave her a tight lipped smile as she thought over what she was going to do now. With her set to grow close to Prince Noah, she was going to be able to get all kinds of interesting material. Esther Lewis, her boss, would most likely be expecting her to send her a finished piece for the magazine by next week. Though, what was Megara going to be able to write? Following an inkling, Megara started mentally composing the piece.

 _Today I had oatmeal muffins for breakfast with fresh fruit and smoothies. After that, I had to sit through another lecture telling me about stuff I learned in third grade. Like, are you serious? Does the monarchy believe me to be completely ignorant of the country's history? Lunch followed the lecture, and it was a turkey, bacon, and avocado grilled cheese paired with an apple brie salad. The dessert- strawberry shortcake -was much too small, and the pineapple strawberry cooler was amazing. I am so far in danger of getting fat, but that's about the most interesting thing going on right now. We were ushered into the Women's Room afterwards, where nothing happened. Everybody was either in a pair or small group gossiping or they were alone and reading one of the magazines. All I learned from my reading was that the fan favorites right now are Lucia and Rheagan. The Fours are all at the bottom._

Megara was frustrated with the piece and it was still mental. She balled her hands into fists and strangely felt pleasure at the pain her nails biting into her palm caused. She closed her eyes, counted to 100, and then opened them. The previous girl that walked to Prince Liam's side- Annika -was the last before a commercial break, which Megara stayed seated through. There was no point in getting up to stretch, partly because she would have to sit back down, and partly because her gown was tight and could split open if she stretched.

As the break ended, Megara slipped her thoughts away from her next article and thought of the one person that hurt to remember. Her mother had been in the previous Selection. Heck, in a way, so had she. After all, if Heidi Sutton hadn't been Selected, she probably would never have come to the Palace. If she hadn't, then maybe she would not have met the big mystery guard and gotten caught. But, then again, if she had never met the mystery guard, Megara would never have been conceived. As she watched more girls go up and throw their lives away for the competition, she wondered if it was worth destroying the Selection. Her mother was already gone, and she loved her Aunt and Uncle. Megara couldn't say, though she knew that at the very least that if nothing else came from the Selection, maybe one of the lessons they took would teach her who her father was.

.o0*0o.

Corin's excitement was coming off her in waves, sometimes so obvious that the girl next to her had already told her to calm down.

A few spots away, Emilia and Halley, who were lucky enough to be seated with each other, sat conversing and Corin wished she could be with them. In the short amount of time- really only two days -the trio had become great friends. At first, they had talked about the comfortable parts of themselves. Corin had told them about sailing- how she loved the open water, how she could steer a classic pirate hip, and her favorite ports. Halley had talked about law school and her blended family- the scholarship she had, what it was like to be going to school away from her family, and the hi-jinks she missed her younger half-brothers pulling. Emilia, ever quiet, hadn't told them much, just some base facts about where she lived and her family's names.

Then, last night during a sleepover of sorts, they had started spilling deeper secrets. Corin told them about Harley, and how ever since he told her what he felt, she couldn't stop this voice in the back of her mind that talked about him. "I know that I shouldn't feel guilty. I mean, Harley had given me no reason to believe he liked me until he told me. So why do I feel guilty? I mean, it's not like I _like_ like Harley. We're just friends."

Halley revealed that her full sister, who had usually been glossed over, was actually the same Cassie in the Selection with them. When Emilia had gotten confused, Halley had explained, "It had already been a nasty divorce, so the custody battle was cut simple so that it would end fast. My father and I moved to Belcourt for his work. Cassie stayed with our mother in Fennley. It wasn't devastating or anything. Cassie and me were never all that close growing up. Though, if our interactions are any indication, Cassie still blames me."

Emilia admitted that the reason she never really spoke of her past was because of a nasty car accident she had been in. "It sucks not knowing who I was or what I did for sixteen and a half years of my life. It's even worse that I don't remember anything I learned. For those six months after I woke up, I was either in a physical therapy office or in a tutoring center. And, I mean, I understand how lucky I am that I'm a Two and I don't need a job. I know that my caste is what has given me this time to recover and start over, but I'm still bitter towards the man who hit me. I had my license for maybe ten freaking minutes!"

In a weird way, it seemed like the three of them fit together. Corin smiled down at Halley and Emilia, who both seemed to be the opposite of her sisters. Neither one of them were as crazy energetic as Astrid and Leila, though whenever she saw a spark in one of their eyes, Corin knew they had the same levels of passion. As she was observing them, Henry sent the _Report_ to commercial break again and Corin walked over to them. Halley and Emilia seemed grateful for a reason to stand up, and Emilia leaned on Halley as she walked in the heels. She was one of the Selected who were not masters at the balancing act, though it was charming in that Emilia would sometimes stumble. Whichever Prince she drew, though Corin hoped Emilia got Prince Liam, she knew they would be lucky.

Once the trio was united, Halley made a small 'Oooooou' as Corin twirled in her dress to give them a 360 view. She told them, gingerly touching the pearl and starfish headpiece to make sure it was in place, "Lorena, Louise, and Allyson thought that I should represent my sailor roots in this way. Lorena said that the dress was designed to look like when a wave washes upon the beach, and I have to admit it looks fabulous. Though, mates, it's nothing compared to yours."

Halley blushed at the compliment, and Emilia giggled. "I like my gown, though it's heavier than it looks." She gestured at the shiny coral fabrics, and added, "I feel like a princess, albeit one whose dress was meant as an exercise weight."

"Well, Emilia, as heavy as yours may be, I am sure that my gown is actually a parachute." Halley pointed at the skirt of her light yellow dress and even kicked the fabric away to show the effect it had falling. "I'm wearing a couture parachute, guys."

Corin laughed at her friends, and was going to reply, but it was time to go back On Air. Back in her seat, she watched as Henry called Tessa down to choose. The girl joked about how she had styled some of the Twos in the Selection, and then picked Prince Noah. Smiling, Tessa picked up the floral skirt of her gown and made her way to her side. Surprisingly, Emilia was picked next. Her eyes went wide and went to both of her friends before she walked to the front of the stage. The girl was panicking, probably about what to say to make her unique, and she slightly tripped on the way. Henry made a joke about her racing to pick, and Emilia took that bit and ran with it. Once she had a slip of paper in her hand, Corin felt her heart start to race. Emilia was such a sweetheart, and she really shouldn't have to go to Prince Noah, who was wild and reckless. Though she really shouldn't have worried, for Henry announced that it was indeed Prince Liam on the slip.

Henry, who must have seen their little group huddle, called Halley forward next. The girl was sort of grimacing the entire time, and Henry asked her what she would do if she picked the same Prince as Cassie. Not thinking that would be as funny as Henry did, Halley answered, "I would still compete. Cassiopeia might share my blood, but with no love between us, she's just another stranger to me." Corin cut a glance towards Cassie, and the blond looked embarrassed. Since she was Halley's friend, Corin did not know whether she wanted to support her or hug Cassie.

She never got a chance to decide as Halley grabbed the piece on top and passed it to Henry. He gave a smirk as he announced it would be Prince Noah, and Halley rolled her eyes. Corin wouldn't have been surprised if the paper actually said Liam and Henry had just set Halley up in response to her comment. So, as she made her way to the front of the stage, she knew that she was likely to get Prince Liam.

At the mark she was supposed to be at, Corin told Henry of what she loved about sailing and boats, and then she looked down into the bowl. When she saw what looked to be a N on a slip, she grabbed it. Henry took it, and Corin held her breath before he rang out, "Lady Corin has drawn Prince Liam!" She felt no satisfaction as she saw the other name clearly printed on the paper, yet there was nothing she could do. Corin walked to stand beside Emilia, and she looked to Halley. It broke her heart to see Halley, who she knew was strong, looked red around her eyes.

.o0*0o.

 **Well then. We have some corruption in our Selection already. Or at least, that we know of, there is a corruption involving the picking.**

 **So, real quick, and kind of off topic, if anybody else has read** _Lady Midnight_ **by Cassandra Clare, I would love to fangirl with you. Literally nobody I know will read it already, and I am going insane with theories for** _Lord of Shadows_ **. And Jemma all the way 3**

 **Again, the fashion pinterest is updated, and I am going to add onto the tumblr right now (** 2tmh . tumblr . com **for anybody new that didn't know)! And for those who followed the tumblr, ;). You guys are awesome.**

 **Now, please give it up for** Eikko **and** fanila **who followed TMH, TMH;** CranberryTruffle **,** Mygothicvalentine **, and** fanila **for favoriting the story; and of course the best reviewers on this website-** UltimateMaxmericaShipper **,** morethanjustastory **,** Swag Giraffe **,** Cookiedoodles168 **,** Idril of the Mountains **,** PJLivingston **,** CranberryTruffle **,** Artemis' hunters **,** MaybeIt'sJustNotThatEasy **,** Max merica **, and** wolfofstark **. And, by the way, I totally keep forgetting to say this, but thank you guys for over 100 reviews! It makes me so happy to see them. They always make my day. And even if the review says** "This sux balls" **I appreciate the criticism.**

 **Until next weekend, because obviously I stink at schedule,**

 **fivesauce'n'YAbooks.**


	14. A List and A Ghost

_Does it ever drive you crazy_  
 _Just how fast the night changes?_

\- "Night Changes", One Direction

.o0*0o.

Liam returned to the stage where the _Report_ was filmed as he saw a blonde girl with a lot of freckles walk over to his side.

She was the latest in a line of about fifteen girls. When he glanced over at Noah's line, it seemed to be even. The remaining ten or twelve girls all wore expressions of being tired, and Liam could not blame them. To him, this entire ceremony was completely unnecessary. Why his father insisted on parading the Selected in front of a camera, he had no idea. The latest girl by the bowl, who he believed her name to be Imogen, maybe?, had her hands behind her back and was furiously shredding the orange gown she wore. After she turned to go join Noah's side, he noticed that she was stumbling nearly the entire time.

While another girl walked up, he used the time to inspect his line a bit closer. As he tried to make sense of the girls, Noah slipped him a piece of paper that was divided into two columns. "Right side is yours," he mumbled before turning back to the girl on stage. Liam, knowing that names were probably better, turned to the sheet. On it, in Noah's messy scroll, was a list as if the girls were grocery items.

Thea | Winter  
Ophelia | Hayden  
Dahlia | Faylinn  
Emery | Aria  
Cassiopeia | Elsie  
Kacelyn | Mia  
Devery | Cecily  
Lasika | Annika  
Greer | Lucia  
Nyla | Persephone  
Juliette | Sabine  
Camilla | Samantha  
Megara | Emilia  
Tessa | Corin  
Halley |  
Imogen |

As a new girl walked on stage, one with blond hair in another up-do, Liam handed the page back to Noah. It made sense now looking at the profile of some of his girls. A few of them, like Faylinn and Annika, he remembered from the forms. Others, such as Persephone and Emilia, he remembered as being the ones with the sort of hidden beauty, as opposed to the obviously pretty Mia and Lucia. When he looked up, the blond was done and walking to Noah's side. With her fierce expression and guarded body language, Liam was glad she hadn't drawn him. Noah, ever so subtle, added the name 'Reiza' to his side, and with the look he gave Liam, it was clear he didn't want her either. Though, as Liam looked at the girl one last time, he could tell Noah appreciated the slinky black dress.

Up after her was the albina in the group, and he could tell that she had dyed her hair a light shade of blond. It wasn't a golden blond, though it was darker than her white hair. From what he could hear of Sidney and Willow gossiping, he would guess that it was now the shade 'Pearl' and that she had only the slightest spray tan on so that she wasn't death white. His sisters agreed that it was okay for now, though Valeria needed to lose the spray tan. "She looks like she's trying to hard," he heard Willow whisper. Sidney only giggled in response. She did this just as Valeria turned to his side of the stage, and the two of them shot him a sympathetic glance. Sidney this time was the one to tell her sister, "She won't last long, I bet."

While Liam wanted to debate how long Valeria was going to stay with the twins, the next girl up caught his attention. It was Annalee, a Two whose father was in the military. While she was one stage, she surprised Liam by completely glossing over her family. She instead spoke of her dream to one day vaccinate orphans in Africa. Once that was done, she drew Liam and smiled at him before taking her place in the line. Following Annalee was Rheagan, and she seemed entirely too happy to draw him. Noah had two girls, Marsden and Athena, follow her, and then Henry called the remaining three girls to come forward.

Petra, Vivienne, and Scarlett stood in the spotlight in a semi circle. Dramatically, he told them, as more of a reminder to the audience than the girls, "Only one of you will draw Prince Noah. The other two Selected will go to Liam. Now, to make it fair, I will have the three of you ladies pick a number from 1 to 100. King Andrew has already written down a number, contained here in this sealed envelope, and the girl who picks closest to the number will draw. If she draws Prince Liam, the girl with the second closest number will pick. Do you understand?" The three nodded there heads, and Henry had them pick as a stage manager delivered the envelope.

Vivienne, enthusiastic to announce hers first, told him, "I will guess the number 59."

Scarlett, almost as aggressive in her answer, said, "I want number 1."

The quietest in the group, Petra simply answered, "25."

As Henry did flourishes before ripping open the envelope, Liam observed the girls straighten their gowns. Vivienne fluffed the gauzy white tulle of her skirt. Scarlett pulled the red lace of her tight dress down slightly. Petra adjusted the skirt of her outfit, which seemed to be something better suited in another time period. Now that he had the audience on the edge of their seats, Henry announced, "The number is 17." He showed the paper to the cameras to prove this, and Petra seemed to hesitate as she walked to the bowl. Liam could hear Scarlett, since the two had been moved to make way for Petra, mutter, "Just fucking draw already." He flinched at the cuss word, and he guessed that Petra heard the sentiment. She dove her hand in and grabbed a slip.

The two girls seemed to be anxious as Henry told everybody that Petra had picked him, and Henry beckoned Scarlett forward as she was the next closest. She was giddy as she put her hand in the bowl, and Liam found himself leaning forward ever so little with Noah, both of their breath held. Scarlett plucked out a slip of paper, and Henry grabbed it. Liam and Noah released their breath at the same time as her Prince was announced, though one was a breath of relief and the other of dread.

.o0*0o.

He had just finished Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata Op. 27 when a maid brought Noah a stack of files.

If he had to guess, the servant was sent by Liam. Sure enough, on the top of the thick stack, there was a sticky note. _Go through these, N. One is going to be your wife. -L_ Noah crumbled up the note and looked back at the ivory keys. He had been feeling uneasy playing the piano after one of the Selected had caught him playing the other night, which was tragic. Besides sex, the piano was his favorite hobby. Seeing as his morale was low, and his glass, Noah stood to find the decanter. Once it was in his hand, he filled his glass up and sat on the sofa in the Music Room.

The top file in the stack was for Kacelyn. The girl was a Two, supermodel, and completely boring. After her was one of the girls who caught his attention earlier, Halley. He had no idea that her sister was in the Selection as well, and he went searching until he pulled out Cassiopeia's form as well. Side by side, the two seemed to be complete opposites. Whereas Halley was dark, Cassiopeia was light. Halley was on a scholarship to law school in another province whereas Cassiopeia's education section was much thinner. Halley had a step family whereas Cassiopeia had just listed her mother in the family section. Surprisingly enough, after he checked, Noah found that neither listed the other as their sister. In fact, they weren't even on the other's form.

He sat the two girls' forms down on a different side of him than Kacelyn's and continued looking. He inspected the forms, and around the tenth one or so, he felt a cool breeze in the air. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up. Noah took a deep breath before he looked at her. Grace was in her clothes from that day, nothing about her different. She had her head propped up, and it hurt him to look at her so happy. With her ever blue eyes, Grace told him, "I wonder if I was still alive, would you have even gone through with this Selection? I mean, twenty girls seems excessive."

He set down the current form- Theodora, who was the one to grimace at drawing him -and turned to face Grace. It had been a few days since he had last seen her, and he wondered if it was an effect of the Selection. Was he forgetting her? Was that the problem? Still, he remembered how Grace had loved her games. So, he told her with a smirk, "I actually think twenty is not enough. Liam should give me his, too. And I would have made sure your form wasn't chosen."

"Is that so?" she challenged. And thus it begin. Noah forgot about the forms as he slipped into easy conversation with his ghost. He talked to Grace for seemingly forever, about everything she had missed. It was when she seemed to be growing fainter that he was pulled from his trance. He glanced at the empty decanter beside him, and when he turned back to Grace, he could have sworn there was a tear on her cheek. He moved to wipe it away, but she pushed him away. Mournfully, she told him, "The Selection is a good thing for you, Noah. Let me go." And when the clock struck three, she disappeared.

Noah choked back the sudden urge to cry. Why did she have an effect on him, even in her afterlife? The glass in his hands looked pathetic as he struggled to get his life together. He wanted to throw it, yet Noah set it down instead. He felt weak. With his tie loosened, Noah climbed the stairs up to the third floor and made a left instead of the usual right. Once the fourth door on the right came, he slowed and cracked open the door. Poppy looked so small in the middle of her giant bed. Quietly, Noah entered the room, slipped his shoes off, and slipped into the bed with his sister.

Poppy cracked open an eye at his entry, and he chuckled when she yawned, "Noah? What are you doing?" Of course it came out sounding more like, _Noahwhutareyudoin?_

He kissed the top of her head. "Not much, Popcorn. I couldn't sleep." Poppy snuggled into him like a kitten and mumbled something in response. As he laid with her, Noah thought of the million other nights he sought comfort with his sister. While the one night stands provided an escape, with Poppy he felt safe. She was the one person who held him and Liam in equal regard, who still treated Noah like he was a human. Even little Ethan had started to pick up the way his mother acted, though not her.

When he caught a whiff of Grace's perfume in the air, tears started leaking. With his little sister beside him, Noah finally let go. "You're my number one girl, Popcorn. I love you." And for the first time in weeks, Noah had no dreams of Grace.

In the morning, a persistent poking in his shoulder woke Noah up. It was followed by a mispronounced series of "Get up!"s and Noah knew that Poppy had woken up before him. He opened his eyes to see her blue ones peering at him. She must have already been bathed and dressed for she was in a purple tulle monstrosity with a neat ponytail.

When he felt another pair of eyes staring at him, and he discovered them to be Poppy's maid, who looked vaguely familiar. She had to have been a replacement, with the regular displaced for the Selection. Noah groaned, sat up in the bed, and stared down his sister. "Not cool, Popcorn. You can't just wake people up."

Poppy rolled her eyes and pointed at the maid. "Miss Leslie said that it's almost eleven and you have to start the interviews today, so it's time to get up." He squinted at the made before standing up. He let a "whatever" fly out before a yawn and he started for the door. Before he left the room, he called to Poppy, "Do you want to help me pick out my outfit?" and she squealed in response. With her leading the way, he walked to his suite in order to start prepping. Today was a big day for his future.

.o0*0o.

 **I am so sorry for this chapter. I really wanted to do a princely POV and this fell flat. Next chapter, though, is interviews! So smile, because I have a unique way of doing these. And, I will say this, my formatting for POVs will be broken. I'll try and do a total of 16 interviews over two chapters, and not all will be main characters. ;) There is a poll up on my profile where you can vote for who you want!**

 **Huge huge thank you to my new followers** Gingerverted **and** butterflyrebel2224 **and favoriter** MissAmeliaYoung **. Hershey kisses to my amazing reviewers:** Idril of the Mountains **,** UltimateMaxmericaShipper **,** Cookiedoodles168 **(who is so sweet for listening to my _Lady Midnight_ emotional rantings and _Lord of Shadows_ theories), **morethanjustastory **,** 4Love4Love4 **x3** **,** BellaRosa17 **x2,** Max merica **,** Artemis' hunters **(who I am so about to hit with the aforementioned rantings and theories)** **,** **and** MissAmeliaYoung **x3** **.**

 **Also, real quick, I have a competition followed by a trip the end of this week/ beginning of next. The update probably won't be up this weekend, but I'll work on putting it up by next Friday so that in two weeks the schedule is fixed.**

 **Xoxo,**

 **fivesauce'n'YAbooks**


	15. An Interview with a Prince, Pt 1

Dressed in a fierce crop top and pants, Marsden walked into the breakfast area looking like a born One.

Noah watched her as she took her spot at the table and engaged in conversation with Reiza, another one of his girls. A few minutes later, Marsden turned her attention to Elsie and Persephone, who were both for Liam. As Noah observed her, he noticed that Marsden was dressed intimidatingly yet she seemed to be talking excitedly to everybody around her. He remembered Marsden from the stack of forms Liam had delivered to him, though Marsden was missing her unique attributes from the form- the piercings and purple hair in the back. Noah decided that he would ask her about her makeover during her interview as those attributes made Marsden unique in her group of compeitors.

With a glance over at Liam once most were done dining, Noah stood up. His twin followed and Noah let Liam begin their announcement, "Ladies, my brother and I will not be conducting the interviews in way of the traditional Selection. We will be having a mini-date of sort to get to know each of you either today and tomorrow."

At Noah's turn, he dug his list out of his pocket and smiled to some of his girls before speaking, "We have already determined the order of the interviews and ask that you not interrupt or sabotage another's interview. Now, the ladies I will be interviewing today will be, in order, Lady Marsden, Lady Ophelia, Lady Dahlia, Lady Greer, Lady Halley, Lady Kacelyn, Lady Athena, Lady Juliette, Lady Camilla, and finally, Lady Tessa before dinner. If I called your name, a maid will bring you a notice of ten minutes before your interview. I ask that you be ready to leave in the Women's Room when I come to talk to you." Noah folded his paper and ate a fruit skewer as Liam announced his list, Lady Mia starting his ten for the day.

Their father clapped when the announcement was finished, something that the rest of the room joined in after a beat. Sidney and Willow loudly started whispering about the ones being interviewed today and the two Selectors made their way to the first girls, Marsden seemingly not as excited as at the beginning of the meal. When Noah glanced over and saw Liam talking to Mia, Noah didn't stop his thought- it shouldn't have surprised anyone that his sap of a brother would want to speak to his fainting beauty first. Upon reaching Marsden, Noah extended his hand to her, which she seemed to reluctantly take. "Thank you," she told him as they left the room and headed for a stroll throughout his home, his group of girls whispering like Noah's sisters.

It was when they were out of ear shot of his father that Noah told her with a smirk, "You forgot to address me as 'Your Highness'".

The color drained from Marsden's face for an instant before she began her apology with, "Are you serious? I forgot that? I even wrote it on my hand to address you as 'Your Highness'". She showed him her palm after that, which had 'Call him _Your Highness_ Mars' next to his name striked out with a little arrow pointing to the words _Not this_. Yet, as he was about to tease her about forgetting, Marsden continued with, "Though it seems kind of foolish, y'know? 'Your Highness' is so formal, and here I am competing to be your wife. If you do become my hubby, am I still going to have to call you 'Your Highness' and 'Prince Noah'? If I do, then it would have to be an even playing field and you call me 'Commoner Marsden'. Then again, maybe just Marsden and just Noah is the right amount of intimacy? I'm not sure.".

She ended her speech with a smile that was at ends with the scary outfit and makeup she was in. She was an oxymoron, one he was starting to enjoy within minutes of officially meeting. With that and her speech in mind, Noah told her, "Maybe I should call you 'Commoner Marsden'. If you are being especially different than me, it can become 'Peasant'." Marsden laughed at the name before he asked her, "Speaking of different, may I hear why you no longer have short and purple hair?"

Marsden's smile fell as she admitted that she was 'advised' to. In explanation, she told him, "It was the makeover teams when I first arrived. I was homesick and angry about missing my dad, so I guess they thought I looked like I wanted to hurt somebody. So first, while they prepped my body for the waxings and stuff, they took my eyebrow and nose piercings out, yet they left my earrings. It was once they got me to hair that they took out four of my six right ear piercings and two of the four on the left. And, as I'll probably never forget, one told me, 'Princesses don't have holes all throughout their body and purple hair.' So I agreed to let them put extensions in the back, and dye the top half of the purple. If you look closely though, you can still see the purple on the bottom."

Noah smiled at the girl, who seemed to thinking over what she revealed. He made a decision, and as the two finished their loop around the first floor, Noah kissed her hand at the door of the Women's Room. She seemed to notice that he had greatly cut her interview, making Marsden seemed scared to enter the room right then. Noah told her, his favorite contradiction, "Thank you for talking to me, Commoner Marsden. I hope to see you at dinner tonight, and maybe soon we can finish this conversation another time?" Marsden relaxed at the nickname and the realization that his words meant she was staying, curtsied, and entered the room. He laughed by himself when she pushed her hair behind her left ear and he caught a glimpse of a tattoo. He would have to ask her upon the next meeting about the body art.

.o0*0o.

As she nibbled on the chocolate cherry scones she had ordered for breakfast, Mia tried to ignore the daggers the other girls were throwing her way with their eyes.

The Princes had already come into the room to announce who would be interviewed that day, and unsurprisingly, Mia was on the list. While the other girls at her group had tried to be civil about it, Mia was sure that Scarlett was about to murder her from afar. The pastry was doing nothing to calm her nerves, and neither was the bubbly water she was drinking. As her worry deepened, Annika, another girl who had drawn Prince Liam, smiled and joked with Mia that she had to tell the table about what questions he would ask her. Feeling encouraged by this, Mia managed a small smile when Prince Liam led her from the dining room.

As soon as Prince Liam led her around the corner, she felt the strong muscles under his jacket relax as he turned to face her. With a smile tugging at his lips, Prince Liam addressed her, "Lady Mia, I'm glad to see that you're feeling better." Aiming to be just as polite, Mia responded with a "Thank you. I'm much better after a night of rest, Your Highness" as he took her through the maze of palace hallways. It seemed to be the music room where he was taking her, as the door opened to the sight of a grand baby piano. At a confused look of the room, Prince Liam explained, "It's much more private than a walk in the garden or refreshments in the sun room."

Once they were seated, Mia shyly glanced at him and told the prince, "Your Highness, I hate to destroy your established idea of me, but I'm not a musician. I'm only a DJ."

Prince Liam smiled just a bit before telling her, "I know that, Lady Mia. The twins love you. Tell me something that a copy of _Illea Weekly_ would not be able to."

Mia glanced at the boy, confused, before she thought of what she could share. She could mention that she loved to travel, yet that was easy to pick up from the photos of her at music festivals around the globe. Then, a thought struck her. Mia touched her braided crown before telling him, "Honestly, my favorite thing in the world is my family. Jonathan and Sydney didn't have to take care of me, and Rory and Skyler are practically my almost-children. They are the cutest peas on the planet! I swear. Rory is the sweetest little girl, and Skylar is going to be a heart breaker one day. Besides that, I really enjoy working for my charity and helping other."

Prince Liam smiled, and he told her, "I love playing tag with Ethan and Poppy, and Mason, Addie, and Noah were fierce hide and seek competitors back in the day. Sidney and Willow never really cared to play with me, though. They were attached to Noah since birth. " He seemed regretful for a second before he asked her, "Please tell me more about your family, Lady Mia. I feel as if the entire world already knows everything about mine."

Her spirits rose as Mia started gushing over Jonathan and Sydney and all of their quirks. He was surprised when she told him how Jonathan were her legal guardian, though she quickly explained, "My parents aren't good at being parents and I'm only seventeen. Jonathan and Sydney took me in for reasons I'd prefer not to discuss on the first meeting." Prince Liam gave her sad eyes, and Mia felt the sympathy like a punch in the gut.

It took a few seconds for the prince to speak again, and when he did, Mia felt her insides tie up. "I hate to correct a lady, but this is our second meeting. So maybe it would be okay to talk about the reasons?"

With a "No!" she hadn't even realized she replied with until after, Mia turned her face from him. Attempting to feel normal and look bubbly once more, she turned the interrogation on him by asking Prince Liam, "What's your favorite season?" She hoped it would distract him for a hot minute before he could try to dig into her home life anymore.

He seemed to guess what she was doing, though he simply replied, "I don't have one," instead of calling her out. The two laughed over Angeles's lack of seasons and as she told him of the seasons she had experienced in different countries, he nodded along. The seasons morphed into other favorites- food, coffee drink, movie, and fictional monarch. By the time they had finished the interview, Mia felt as if she had dodged a bullet. Yet, as he led her back to the Women's Room to pick up Rheagan, she knew this conversation was likely far from over.

.o0*0o.

Liam had to admit that he was slightly drained by the time he met Hayden for a private lunch.

His morning had started well with Mia even if she did avoid the questions about her parents and interviews with Rheagan, Cecily, and Winter followed afterwards. All three of them took his energy away in different ways- Rheagan seemed to be changing herself before his eyes to fit what she thought he liked, Cecily was incredibly energetic even in the morning with no coffee, and Winter was a mysterious that made the interview feel like he was barely seeing her at all. As he waited outside the Women's Room to pick up Hayden, he wondered what type of Selected she was. It was obvious that there were girls here for the crown, and some who felt like they hated Noah and him and wanted to leave immediately, with a slim margin of girls who showed an excitement for the Selection. As the door opened and he saw the girls inside, Liam noticed Persephone, Corin, and Emilia chatting together. He thought of how he would be taking out Persephone and Corin later and he felt weariness in his bones. Why did no one mention how exhausting the Selection was?

As Hayden exited the room and smiled at him, however, Liam perked up at the sight of her. She seemed to be wise beyond her years, something that made herself already poised to become a monarch. It was as they walked to the private room in the northern wing that he noticed her ticks- smoothing out her dress, touching her hair, and glancing at him every so often- that Liam realized she was nervous. It seemed so unlike the idea he was forming of Lady Hayden that he found it slightly endearing. So far girls had only reinforced the opinions he had of them. With Lady Hayden he found himself changing those thoughts by the minute.

Upon reaching the room, Liam pulled the chair out for her and then seated himself. As the butlers served their fruit and cheese skewers that served as appetizers, Liam looked at the petite girl before him. Deciding now was as good as any other time to start, he asked her, "May I ask what your favorite color is, Lady Hayden?"

She ate a grape as she decided to answer, and he felt himself warm as she told him, "Probably anything neutral, Your Highness. I mean, I like things orderly and I associate that with neutral colors. "

As they continued to make small talk throughout the meal, Liam found himself smiling more as she talked about her occupation. He didn't think anybody could be excited about planning events and yet here was a girl who spoke as if it was her favorite thing in the world. By the time dessert was served, Liam was in awe of the petite girl. She spoke about juggling peoples wants and making them work, something he knew he wouldn't be able to do. As they took a break in speaking so that each could take a bite of the salted caramel brownies, Liam was caught her off guard when he asked, "What do you think of the other Selected?"

A flash of fear flashed across her face for a second, something he might not have caught if he hadn't been taught to read body language. Hayden swallowed her bite and replied with, "What do you mean, Your Highness?"

Liam didn't want to push her like he had Mia, so he pulled back slightly and told her, "I was meaning to ask what you thought of the other Selected. However, what I really want to know is if you prefer chocolate or vanilla ice cream."

Hayden smiled at him and replied, "Strawberry, of course," bringing them back into her comfort zones. As they finished the treat, and Hayden had two sent to her room, they started the walk to the Women's Room for her to meet Elsie. When she made the request, Liam smiled at the shy girl. It shouldn't have been unexpected that Hayden and Elsie had found a friend in one another. From what he had gleamed of the ginger from Bankston on her form and from far away, Elsie was just as sweet as Hayden and would be likely chatting with some other Selected when they would arrive.

At the door of the Women's Room, Hayden seemed to hesitate before going in. She turned to him and smoothed down the tight light pink and purple dress she was wearing. It was most likely the most surprising thing about her today, and she seemed to sense that when she asked him, "Real quick, can you please tell me what you think of this dress, Prince Liam? My maids made me change into it after breakfast."

As a maid came around the corner of the hallway, he leaned in close to whisper in her ear, therefore making him bend to accommodate her short height, "Your dress at breakfast was fine, Lady Hayden. This dress is just as nice. Unlike my brother, I'd like to get to know my girls based on more than what they wear. Truly and honestly, I would not so much as blinked if you had showed up for our date in jeans."

She smiled at his response before the door opened and Scarlett came out. She glared at Hayden before turning to Liam with a sugar sweet smile and told him, "I'm ready, Your Highness." He turned to Hayden, tipped his head at her, and felt a pang of sadness as Scarlett attached herself to him and Hayden went back into the room.

.o0*0o.

Unlike Marsden and the others before her, Halley had her interview with Prince Noah in the sun room, where a small group of Selected had decided to "enjoy the spring sky".

It was such bull, but what could she do about it? Cassie was in the group, as well as Thea and Camilla. They were obviously spying on how her interview went, as well as what kind of questions Prince Noah would ask. He knew this, and she knew this, yet he still smiled as he sipped a flask from his jacket to pour into the cup of tea. Taking a sip of her own simple tea- herbal with honey and a splash of lemon juice- Halley assessed the boy before her. He could be called a man because of his age, but as he made eyes at the other girls, she knew that he was nowhere near mature enough for the title. He reminded her in so many ways of the frat boys her roommate in college would bring back to the dorm before asking Halley, "Isn't this weather pretty enough for a walk?"

One scalding sip later, she felt his eyes on her as well. The kitchen had brought up a plate of scones, seeing as they weren't really exclusive to breakfast, and she chose to look at them. She had foregone this morning in favor of a fruit plate, though now the blackberry and brie scones looked delectable. Delicious as they seemed, Halley chose the lemon poppy seed scone to eat instead. It was closer to her than him, and it was at least something she had eaten before. It was soon in her stomach and she looked up to meet his eyes. A stare down ensured until he looked away first.

Halley didn't even try to hide her smirk as she picked up another scone, peach and raspberries this time. Prince Noah finished his assessment of her before asking, "You wouldn't happen to be the lawyer, would you?"

She remained nonchalant even though his question surprised her. Had he actually read their forms before this morning? Shrugging, Halley told him, "Depends on who you ask. Some say that, some only call me a law student. But in a sense, I am because I'm studying to become one." He nodded before looking back at the group of Selected, all who were madly giggling.

It took only a few seconds to pass by before he commented, "You're quite the chatty one, eh?" Halley rolled her eyes as he continued with, "So why are you here anyways, Halsey?"

With suppressed annoyance, Halley corrected his mistake before telling him, "I joined to make my stepmother happy. I would honestly rather be home enjoying a break from school right now than be sitting at this table with you." Noah placed his hand over his heart as if she had actually hurt him, to which Halley took another sip of her tea. Seeing as he wouldn't talk, Halley asked him, "Why haven't you already eliminated me, Prince Noah? I don't want to be here."

"Because I think you're different, Halsey." Before she could correct her name again, he continued to say, "I honestly can't say. Maybe because I've already had an interview worse than yours this morning? Nah. I like a good challenge and you're an amazing one, Halsey." She gripped the dainty teacup in front of her, ready to splash it in his face when he continued, "Halsey, why do you want to be at least a princess and at most a queen?"

"I don't," she growed at him, "I want to go home."

She could see that his practiced cool was started to fall and he was growing annoyed with her. With a glance towards the other Selected, who were distracted, Prince Noah told her, "Well I don't even want to have this Selection. So suck it up, buttercup. I'm not going to eliminate you until I feel like it, not because you want to go home." Halley, hoping that if she kept pushing him that he would eliminate her, continued with the taunting. Every so often she would look at Cassie, to the point which he asked her, "Isn't that your sister?" Her silence confirmed it, with Noah smirking and Halley fuming. Why wouldn't he just send her home? She needed to be studying TORTS. When Halley picked up yet anoither scone to eat, Noah started taunting her. It got to the point that she crushed the pastry in her fist, much like she wanted to do to the twit sitting before her. With that, Prince Noah smiled at her as got up from the table and went to go chat with Cassie, whose court was growing to have Annika and Lee as well.

With her patience evaporating by the second, Halley waited for him to come back and finish their chat. When he didn't, Halley slammed the teacup down, the action destroying the precious china, shards mixed with the crumbled pastry. "Are you serious, Cassiopeia?" she asked before moving to leave the room. The interview- no, the entire Selection- was a joke. Prince Noah was just going along with it for a stream of hookups which Halley was sure would start with her younger sister. As she reached the door, Halley heard Cassie ask all innocent, "What did I do?" The Prince's reply- "I don't know. Be born?"- was met with giggles from those in Cassie's court and the slam of Halley leaving the room.

.o0*0o.

Persephone hoped she looked as sunny as she felt inside.

After her name had been announced to interview after lunch, she had rushed to change out of the demure white dress she had dawned that morning. Inspired by the peach and raspberry scones served to her for breakfast, Seph had changed into a simple orange cotton sundress. The white wedges she kept, and after assurance from her maids, the natural hair and makeup as well. When Aijia had suggested that she read or find something small to do while waiting for Prince Liam, Seph had no objection. It was a good thing that she had thought ahead and let Shy go play with Poppy. It didn't exactly make a great first impression on your suitor if you had a little girl attached to you.

She had barely reread the first three pages in _The Wrath and The Dawn_ for the fifth time when she heard a knock that Krystal went to answer. Standing on the other side, in all his glory, was Prince Liam. Seph let out a breathless smile when he entered, one that lit up her entire face. Prince Liam seemed to catch her enthusiasm and he too smiled, something that sent butterflies wild in her stomach. After they both walked closer, and she curtsied albeit a bit clumsy, he asked her, "Would you like to go play a round or two of mini-golf? I'm afraid we probably would not have time for anything more than that."

Seph gave him another smile while telling him, "I don't think that's a bad idea, Your Highness. Warning you though, I think I play a mean game of putt putt. The other girls might get jealous that you'll have to blow off your other interviews to finish the game." He laughed at that, and Seph couldn't help but join in with him. Prince Liam always seemed so serious, so to get him to laugh felt like seeing Shy for the first time- an indescribable wave of emotion that crashes into you. Unlike with Shy, it felt like pride mixed with giddiness and not love and fear mixed with a sense of wonder.

With her hand on his arm, they made their way to the course. There, he politely handed her the putter before going to the first hole. As a gentleman, Prince Liam let her play first. It turned out that her lie was just that- she was absolutely horrible at the game. He was worse than her, though, so that was at least a bandage for her pride's wound. As they walked back to the palace, she found herself lagging behind a bit. Prince Liam must have taken this as a sign for it being the right time to interview, for Seph found him asking her, "Lady Persephone, what's your favorite ice cream flavor? I have found that the answer gives insight into the girl asked."

She pretended to think on it before replying, "I've only had ice cream once or twice before, though I think my favorite flavor has to be mint chocolate chip. From what I remember of it, it looks and tastes like happiness." The Prince smiled at her, seemingly amused by Seph's answer. His next question caught her off guard, though she responded honestly by telling him, "I've never seen a movie. My family was lucky if our TV caught the _Report_ every week." Prince Liam seemed only slightly nerved by the confession, yet he continue asking irrelevant questions. By the time they reached the doors heading inside, Seph was almost glad. Prince Liam was much more relaxed then she thought he would have been.

That relaxed feeling came to a screeching halt when he asked her, "Lady Persephone, what did you mean that your family was lucky if they caught the _Report_? Isn't Yukon one of the nicer provinces?"

She stalled before answering, "Not truly, Prince Liam. My small town in Yukon wasn't close to the province capitol. Sometimes we would go weeks without supplies in the winter. The Twos and Threes and even some of the upper Fours would get them, though my family and the lower castes are low on the town totem pole. We would often cut our electricity in the winter so that we could buy food and firewood."

He was quiet for the rest of the walk and Seph cursed herself mentally. Why, why, why did she reveal that to the prince of Illea? Now he would think she was trash and send her home without so much as a stipend to help her family. While that was a tragedy, Seph couldn't even imagine what she would have to tell Shy. How do you explain that they have to leave their only friend their age because you messed up? While she chewed the inside of her bottom lip, Seph sneaked glances at Prince Liam. She couldn't read if he was disgusted or angry. When he dropped her off at the Women's Room, Seph tried not to feel disappointment when he did not ask her to wait after dinner like he did to Scarlett and Rheagan, who were beautiful. As she walked in and spied her new friends, though, Seph decided to spend her final- and truly only- day in the Selection happy.

.o0*0o.

Summoned her room, where she had definitely not been prepping, Tessa went on her way to meet Prince Noah for a trip to the putt putt course.

As Taryn, one of her maids, tied the laces on the lace shoes she was to wear, Tessa thought over what she already thought of the Prince she drew. The media had never been kind to him, yet she worked behind the cameras. Tessa could recall multiple celebrities who were portrayed as divas by magazines such as _Illea Weekly_ and yet they were nothing but kind to her when she styled them. On the flip side, there were celebrities that acted nice in front of cameras but were horrible once the lenses were off of them. The thought of these media darlings brought Mia to her mind.

Tessa had only met Mia Shaugessy once, and it was in passing. Tessa had been hired to style Mia, yet due to illness or something, she had sent the outfits premade versus styling on the star herself. As the magazine had told Tessa, she was about Mia's size and apparently the two could be twins. The comment made Tessa wonder if that was a good or bad thing now that she was in the Selection with the DJ. Tessa tried to stop thinking of it, yet that led to thinking of the interview ahead. She had been so excited to interview today versus tomorrow, yet once Persephone told the girls about her putt putt interview, Tessa deflated. Was she not special enough to get a different interview set up than Persephone's with Liam?

Rochelle seemed to see what Tessa was doing and forced her out of her mind. She passed Tessa the sketch pad and started having Tessa look at the dresses they were making for her. All of them were cute, frilly pieces that were similar to the mint dress she currently wore. Distracted, Tessa wrote down ideas for accessories that would work well with each piece. Before long, that awaited knock came. At the sight of the maid, Tessa passed her hand through her hair and stood, adjusting her dress as needed. Upon a nod from her maidds, Tessa went to the Women's Room to be fetched.

Prince Noah smiled as she met him at the doorway not even five minutes later and curtsied as best as she could without falling or revealing her underwear. As Tessa left with him, she shot a wink to Lucia, who was peeking out from behind a magazine cover with herself on it. Once they were finally outside the palace, the silence between them was broken as Prince Noah asked her about her age. She quietly replied, "Eighteen, Your Highness," before answering more basic questions about herself. When it came to her province, Tessa told him about moving to Angeles from Fennley as her hope to do well diminished. The walk was awkward, and Tessa hated her answers the second they came out of her mouth. It was his final question that finally brought Tessa back to her normal self.

She was tired of being awkward around Prince Noah and felt so unspecial that she had no filter as she answered, "Your Highness, no offense, but I'm not sure if I would want to be the Princess. You're awesome and all, but why be a princess when you can be a unicorn? When you poop, you get to poop rainbows and all you have to eat for nutrients are cake and macaroons. Sweet deal, in my opinion." Prince Noah stopped the walk to the course to sit on a bench along the path as he laughed at her reply, and Tessa's usual skin slipped back around her. The tension she was feeling fell as she joined him on the bench and started giggling herself. As their laughs wore off, he addressed her, "Lady Teresa, may I be frank with you?"

Tessa nodded, but not before she cut in with her own request. "Please call me Tessa, Your Highness. I prefer the nickname over Teresa, which makes me sound like a nun." That wasn't necessarily true, but it was her stock answer for the nickname.

He seemed to accept the request as the next words out of his mouth were, "Lady Tessa, I was going to send you home. However, I must say, you've had the best answer out of the ones I've asked that question. All of the others were eager to announce they wanted the tiara, except for one. I'll have to keep you around for a bit longer I suppose."

With a shake of her head, Tessa let him know her thoughts on the Selection. "Prince Noah, I honestly would have been okay with going home. I don't know if I could really fall in love with somebody I'm sharing with nineteen other girls in only three months. I entered to meet new people and have new experiences. If you wish to send me home now, please say so."

The Prince stood and took her arm, though they headed back to the palace versus the course. With a sigh, he told her, "You are possibly the second most honest girl I've spoken to. She actually asked to leave. It would be unfair of me to send home somebody just because they were truthful. If it is okay with you, I truly would like to keep you here for at least a bit longer, Lady Tessa. Lord knows I have a hard time finding honesty around this palace." Tessa smiled at him, and it was still on her face as they entered the dining room together.

.o0*0o.

 **I know I took forever to update- 42/43 days in fact- but any SYOC writer can tell you that interviews are the absolute worst thing ever. Still, I'm sorry.**

 **I don't know yet whether I will do another interview chapter or skip to the first elimination, but I can tell you the updates will be slower now. School is winding down, projects are piling up, and I just got a job so my summer isn't as free as it was when I began TMH, TMH.**

 **Disclaimer: _The Wrath and the Dawn_ is an amazing book by Renee Ahdieh that is in no way mine. Its sequel, _The Rose and The Dagger_ , also happens to be my current read. :) And to everybody who gets mad when I use real books in the story, like when I claimed Thea wrote _A Court of Thorns and Roses_ by Sarah J. Maas, please know that name dropping these books is my way of planting easter eggs of my personal life in the story.**

 **Follower thank yous go out to** Artemis' hunters **,** CallMeMichy **,** Pizzanna **, and** The Selected **. Favoriters** Artemis' hunters **,** Pizzanna **, and** The Selected **are too incredible for words, as are my multitudes of reviewers:** morethanjustastory **,** 4Love4Love4 **,** The Selected **x 2,** Cookiedoodles168 **,** BellaRosa17 **,** Artemis' hunters **,** Pizzanna **x 2, and** Mae **(guest).**

 **Xoxo,**

 **fivesauce'n'YAbooks**

 **P.S. If you didn't figure it out, Scarlett drew Liam and Vivienne was given to Noah ;)**


	16. An Interview with a Prince, Pt II

Did Noah feel so bad for eliminating three girls on the first day? Not really.

His brother, however, seemed to be miserable after sending home Rheagan for being "too forward" and Scarlett for "no spark". Personally, Noah saw nothing wrong with Rheagan being too forward. That meant she would have been a fun girl to keep during the boring and serious times of the Selection. However, she had unfortunately drawn his honorable twin. On his side of eliminations were maybe worse reasons, he guessed. Juliette had been boring, Kacelyn was too ditzy for him, and Dahlia was annoying. Moving onto more interesting thoughts, he observed the girls eating breakfast, ones he had already seen.

In truth, Marsden was his favorite from the first day. She was funny and weird and honest with him in a way that wasn't patronizing. On the other hand, Halley was lucky that Noah liked a challenge. The girl seemed to blow him off while acting as if she was the royal, not him. Still, there was something in her that made Noah not send a maid after her to tell Halley to stay after dinner. The others he had seen fell on a spectrum in between the two. Tessa and Athena fell after Marsden, Camilla was in the middle, and Greer and Ophelia were just above the bottom. If they weren't more interesting next time he had to deal with them, Noah could find no remorse for the thought of sending them home.

Looking at his listed order for the day, Noah felt his minimal optimism shrinking. Cassiopeia would be his first of the day, which intrigued him, especially after her sister (who knew they were sisters?) made a scene the day before about her. Afterwards he was supposed to see Lasika, Nyla, Imogen, and then Devery, meeting Reiza for lunch. Emery would follow, Vivienne after, and then Theodora and Megara to end the day. Just looking at the morning girls in the crowd made Noah sneer, prompting him to borrow a pen from Mason. Editing his list given by his father, Noah set it as Cassiopeia, Lasika, Emery, Reiza, Devery for lunch, Imogen, Theodora, Nyla, and finish the night with Vivienne for drinks and then Megara for dinner.

A bit more satisfied, Noah smiled as he stood with Liam to announce the interview orders. He noticed that a bit of the more skittish girls from yesterday were watching him, almost like they expected him to do another elimination. The thought made him feel powerful as he sipped his alcoholic coffee. Liam sped through his order, quickly naming the girls he would be seeing. With a glance at the paper Liam held, Noah noticed with a roll of his eyes that Liam was following the order set by their dad. Still, he didn't allow that to affect him as he told the room his order, ending with a smile and wink at Cassiopeia.

The breakfast didn't go on for much longer. With a last drink of the coffee, Noah stood and walked to his first girl's chair. Ever so charming, he held out his hand to her and said, "Lady Cassiopeia, will you please come with me for a game of putt putt?" He shot a glance at Halley, who seemed to be trying to hold back an eye roll in their direction.

Smiling at his mission accomplished, Noah escorted the Selected from the room as she told him, "I'd prefer Lady Cassie, if you don't mind. Cassiopeia is such a tedious name to always say." Noah smiled at her to try how little he cared about her preferences, instead focusing on making it to the mini golf course he had yet to use for an interview. Why did girls have to be so annoying?

.o0*0o.

As she watched Prince Liam twirl Princess Poppy around after he had dismissed Valeria, Faylinn thought only of how she missed her own brother.

Aidan always made her feel better, especially after her father would criticize one of her performances. Just the thought of him had Faylinn blinking back tears. With a quick glance at the other girls in the Women's Room, Faylinn pulled herself together enough to escape the madness. The route to her room was thankfully quiet of staff and Selected. Once there, Faylinn drifted to one of the numerous mirrors in there. Faylinn took a glance, and after she was sure that her maids were absent, pulled down the shoulder of her day dress. The bruise was still dark yet not one of the worst she had received. Her "parting gift" from her ever so loving father.

She must have been looking at it so distractedly that Charissa, Lieve, and Daffodil were able to enter the room and come up behind her without her notice. It was Lieve's small gasp and Charissa's "Is this why you requested sleeved dresses, Lady Faylinn?" that drew her eyes away from the painful reminder. When she looked back at her face, Faylinn noticed the tears hadn't stopped on her route after all. Still she wiped them away and put on a brave smile, ever hopeful that this bruise would be her last. With a shaky voice she tried to playfully ask, "Shouldn't we be preparing for my interview?"

The maids worked quickly and quietly as they grabbed an outfit set aside. When it came time for Charissa to cover Faylinn's shoulder for the semi sheer fabric on top, she told her Lady, "We could report whoever did this to you to the King." Faylinn knocked her concerns aside with a small "It won't help me now" and smiled as Daffodil finished her pedicure. It was only when Faylinn saw the maids take the pink and blue dress already chosen for her interview back to the closet that her expression changed. What the exchanged it for, a white gown with beautiful gold and silver sequins, had her smiling genuinely. "Thank you" she whispered, or at least thought she did.

Much faster than she would have liked, Lieve was finishing her ponytail braid like hairstyle and Daffodil answered the knocking at her door. Faylinn touched the dress and tried to absorb some of its sparkle as she met Prince Liam face to face. The two walked out of the hallway and towards the garden but anxiety started whispering to Faylinn as Prince Liam ever so slightly moved closer to her. Memories of her father doing the same thing had her stopping short of going outside and trying to remain composed as she asked, "Wouldn't you rather stay in, Your Majesty? You've must have taken plenty of garden strolls yesterday and this morning."

"I'm quite fine, Lady Faylinn. Thank you for your concern, however. Is there something wrong?"

Deciding to take a chance that she might be redeemed later on in the interview, Faylinn nodded and pointed to her towering heels. "It's my shoes, Your Highness. As a Five, and an acrobat, I'm used the no shoes. These heels are hurting me and I imagine stepping in the soft dirt will be a disaster."

He looked at her, muttered something, but he started walking in a new direction with her. When he spoke at last, it was outside of a open room. "Would tea and cookies be better for you?" Slightly cowed and worrying about his tone, Faylinn nodded and sat down in one of the chairs. A maid hurried in to leave them a pot of tea with fixings, but Faylinn's hazel eyes were drawn to the platter of cookies that joined it. As soon as the Prince started fixing a cup of tea, Faylinn reached for one of the little treats she rarely received at home. She tried to maintain small talk with him as he sipped his tea and Faylinn ate pastries, yet nothing seemed to go smoothly.

Trying to recover their broken thread of conversation, Faylinn asked him, "What's your favorite cookie, Your Highness? I love all of them but honestly I think my favorite has to be shortbread. Simple but really sweet."

Prince Liam gave her an odd look before replying, "I thought you were a Five? And an acrobat or some other circus performer? I didn't realize you got to eat cookies."

Embarrassment swept through Faylinn as she set down her cookie and confessed, "I am a Five, Prince Liam, and a trapeze artist is my job. Sometimes I get tips and when I don't have to help pay for food for my family I like to buy ingredients and make cookies. Can food or even no food gets tiring after so long, Your Highness."

He gave her another look, one she didn't understand, and Faylinn squirmed in her seat. It was an awkward time period later when he told her, "Frosted sugar cookies year round. Sometimes a pumpkin spice cookie with this cream cheese topping when the kitchen makes it in the fall." Faylinn smiled as she tried to get more but when he didn't offer any more information, she slunk down in her chair.

Sighing from the effort to talk to him, Faylinn poured herself a cup of tea before adding lots of sugar and a squeeze of lemon juice. She set the precious cup down after a sip and reached for another cookie when Prince Liam tried to grasp her wrist. Instinct kicked in and she jerked her wrist away, unfortunately pushing her very full teacup off of the delicate table and into her lap. A scream of agony ripped out of her throat as she tried to stand up, setting another series of events into motion. The china fell from her lap and burst into pieces, and as she tried to turn, Faylinn felt her ankle twist from her heel snagging on the carpet. After she fell on her butt into the hot and sticky tea, mixed with shards of glass, Faylinn once again felt tears, yet this time of shame. As the Prince tried to help her, she felt pain from small movements as well as telling him, "Please leave me. Just send for a maid, Your Highness. I'm so sorry." He once again tried to help her, but like the broken doll she was, Faylinn felt that she bored him while he did as she asked once more.

Later, in the infirmary, Faylinn woke up from her nap to see a note on her beside. The anxiety she had felt upon seeing it eased as she read the short note inside: _Please stay after dinner tonight. - Prince Liam_

.o0*0o.

With everybody stuck in the Women's Room and nothing fun to do, Emery admired the detail placed into the dress she was currently wearing.

It was, just like almost every other dress in the room, a one of a kind piece created just for her. What made it special to her was that Caesar designed it for her, even after her fight with him over being Selected. As she glanced around the room, Emery noticed with a smile that at least three Selected were wearing one of her designs. While she couldn't place the other two names, Emery felt a bit awed as Cassiopeia shined in a pink day dress Em had dreamed up after telling Clea a bedtime story of dancing princesses. Much like the constellation namesake, Cassie looked like she was only missing her tiara.

Not wanting to dwell on her "competition", however, Emery thought of the interview she was about to endure. While she originally couldn't fathom the thought of being in the Selection, she had realized that being in it for the long run would make her name popular enough to start her own fashion line. She loved working for Caesar, but with her new caste bump to an official Three, Emery could work on her own now. While she mentally called up sketches she couldn't wait to copy down, Emery noticed a cringing Lasika walk into the Women's Room. The Prince was visible in the doorway behind her looking none the happier.

With an eye roll, Emery replaced Lasika at the door way. Prince Noah took her by the crook of the elbow and the two distractedly strolled outside through the gardens. While others would have been chatting the prince up, she just admired the flowers they passed. Her fingers twitched as she ached to start sketching, something he noticed. Prince Noah stepped in front of her and Emery was struck by the height difference between them. Her heels were not that high- maybe only 4 inches- but she still felt a bit cowed looking up at him. Still, she tried to seem confident as she answered his raised eyebrows with a "Can I help you?"

He narrowed his eyes at her but said nothing. It took a few minutes before he spoke, and he asked her, "Are you an artist? I noticed your fingers fluttering."

Emery found her lips forming a sarcastic quip, yet strangely she found herself instead replying truthfully. "I'm not an artist in the traditional sense. I'm a fashion designer at heart and the early Angeles flowers are inspiring." Prince Noah smiled and lead her through more of the garden. Not far from the exit he reached out to a bush and plucked a pretty blue flower.

"For the Lady Emery, a blue peony. It matches your gown." Emery took the flower and smiled as she reached behind her to place it in her hair. Apparently doing so must have disheveled the pulled back style as Prince Noah brushed a strand off of her shoulder. Emery found herself holding her breath as he did so, breaking the spell by telling her, "Your hair is gray."

Folding herself back together, Emery looked away from his eyes to the toes her shoes. "Yeah, I dyed it about two months ago. Fashion, you know? When I got here the makeover crews tried to get me to dye it another color- blonde, brunette, even red. Anything normal, I guess. They told me that whichever Prince I drew would send me home because, and I quote, 'what man likes grandma hair?'"

She had yet to look up but when Prince Noah responded, she was so surprised she had to look and see if he was being serious. At her look, he laughed and repeated, "I'm serious, Lady Emery. I like grandma hair. It reminds me of my g-ma, the former Queen. I miss her sometimes."

Scared she was overstepping, Emery asked, "What happened to her? I mean, you don't have to answer that."

"No, it's okay. I mean, if you end up as my wife you should know what happens when a Queen by marriage grows old and her husband dies." Though his voice was light, his voice was dark as he continued, "You'll live here for a while after your son is coronated. It won't matter that you were one of the best Queens Illea has seen- compared to the likes of Queen Amberly and Queen America. Once your husband dies, your son will pack you up and send you to an estate across the country, probably in Calgary or Allens. There you'll live with some staff and guards, eventually nurses and doctors, until you croak."

Suddenly bold, Emery grabbed his hand. "I'm sorry, Your Highness. I didn't know that's what's happening to Queen Mother Paige." Prince Noah nodded, and then with forced nonchalance, shrugged off her hand and started walking back to the palace. Taking off after him, which was hard even for someone who was as used to heels as her, she called out to his back, "Prince Noah, I shouldn't have said that. It's none of my business."

At that he turned around and stopped. Emery could see him pull out a flask, and after a drink, tell her in all seriousness, "But it could be, Lady Emery. That is the whole point of this God damn Selection. Return to the Women's Room or your own bedroom after this, I don't care. I'll see you tomorrow at breakfast." With that, Emery watched her supposed Prince Charming run back to the palace as her confusion grew with the distance between them.

.o0*0o.

She wondered if it was impolite that Elsie had missed the Prince's knock the first time.

She had gone up to her room with Hayden to prepare for her interview which ended up being like a daytime sleepover. First there had been the face masks and mani pedis, which was quickly followed by going through the dresses in her closet. Hayden stole one of the numerous green bits she had and Elsie found herself drawn over and over again to a beautiful nude dress with flowers screened onto it. She threw the dresses at her maids and giggled as Hayden started looking for the shoes to go with it. Giggling, Elsie sat down as Becka started playing with her hair. When Hayden approached her with makeup she started squealing until Rosalynn took it from her friend and saved Elsie.

An hour or three later, Elsie was finally ready. It was in the horrible downtime between finishing and actually leaving that she decided to grab the deck of cards she had brought from home. Sitting down with Hayden and Rosalyn, she attempted to teach them poker as Becka went for snacks and Diana clucked at them for breaking formalities. All Elsie had to reply to her was, "Rosalyn has seen me naked. I think we've thrown formalities out the window already, Diana." Hayden let out a little giggle at the statement and her already bad poker face slipped. It was during Hayden's cries of "Cheater!" and the other's laughter that Elsie missed her cue from Prince Liam.

Another knock came two minutes later and when Elsie realized what it was, her eyes went wide. Hayden gave her a reassuring hand and told Elsie, "His Highness is pretty cool, El. Don't worry about it. You're almost as cool as me and I get to stay, don't I?" SHe had only smiled before her friend jokingly pushed her towards her maid and commanded, "Hurry up and fix your hair. It's crazy and I can't leave for lunch until you do for yours." With a laugh Elsie let Becka fix her hair slightly before stepping into some nude flats and going to Diana at the door. Sheepishly smiling at her possible to be monarch, Elsie dropped into a curtsy that he dismissed as they walked to a private lunch.

When they reached their little alcove, Elsie halted their tentative conversation to gasp at how pretty the view was. He must have been leading her to the small fourth floor without her noticing because when they walked onto the balcony, she swore she could see to the edge of Angeles's main city. Prince Liam chuckled at her reaction and helped her sit down before he took the opposite seat. Materializing from the shadows, a servant brought a pitcher of something to them and filled the second cup with something a mixture of purplish and brown, the first cup already filled with ice water. _I don't know if I could get used to this_ , she thought.

"It must seem strange to you," he told her, in which Elsie realized she had said that thought out loud. "I guess I've gotten so used to the automatic service that I don't even notice it anymore."

Elsie sipped the colorful beverage, which tasted like a sweet, fruity tea, and replied, "That is strange to me. I mean, I guess I'm just used to being the server that it's weird to be served."

The Prince seemed flabbergasted as she sipped more of the drink and waited for their food. As the plates were set down, he asked her, "You're a waitress? I don't recall that being on your form."

The mention of the form set Elsie back as she tried to deflect his question with, "You actually look at those papers? I guessed that as soon as you had our names that they would go out with the trash."

Prince Liam smiled as he took a bite of the chicken and berry salad served for lunch. "I cannot speak for Noah; Lord knows that only he and Noah can speak for my brother. However, I do look at the forms. I'll only admit to a glance of the basics before this interview, though. It's quite embarrassing to admit that you know nothing of a girl except for her name as you can imagine, especially in a group meant to end in a marriage." Elsie rolled her eyes at his answer, to which he continued, "It happened yesterday. The poor girl was crying when the interview ended."

Taking a chance, she asked him, "Was it one of the two girls you've already eliminated?" He told her no, and that she wouldn't know who it had been from him. He was confidential, he said. Elsie giggled and decided to open up to this "confidential" Prince. "To answer your earlier question," she told him, "I am not officially a waitress. My official occupation, which you probably saw on my form, is that I'm a teacher and poet. Only problem is that neither of those jobs are particularly financially supportive and I have a disabled father I have to look after. So on some weeknights and the weekends I would pick up a few shifts at the little corner diner to earn bit of extra money."

Prince Liam smiled before gently asking, "What about your mother, Lady Elsie?"

Quietly, Elsie tried to ignore the ache in her heart and told him, "She's dead, Your Highness."

"Oh," was all he replied. Luckily, they picked their conversation back up not long after. Back onto happier topics, Elsie felt good as he led her back to the Women's Room at the end of the interview. Smiling, he bid her goodbye and Elsie was radiant as she walked back into the tiger's den. Hayden met her halfway across the room with her deck of cards and whispered to Elsie as they took their seats at a table on the side, "Now who has a bad poker face? And I want to know everything."

.o0*0o.

The day was bright and sunny but that did nothing to help Vivienne's sour mood.

The previous day had seen twenty girls interviewed, Vivi not included. Now, no matter what Prince Noah did with her, it would be considered old news already. As she sat through breakfast and stabbed her fork into the figure damaging food, she simmered with rage. Dahlia, Rheagan, and Hayden had already interviewed at her table, though only Hayden showed up to the morning meal. From murmurs heard around the room, she wasn't the only girl to notice the missing Selected. It was while the others whispered treatourous thoughts that Vivi caught up to speed as the Princes stood up. Eliminations had to have already begun.

Just as she expected, the Princes stood up to officially announce the eliminations of Rheagan, Scarlett, Juliette, Kacelyn, and Dahlia, bringing the number of girls back down to that of a regular Selection. Curiously, Vivi looked to see how the rest of the Royal Family present took the news. King Andrew and Queen Eleanor were nodding in understanding, Prince Mason seemed annoyed but pretended to be interested, Princess Sidney and Princess Willow were giggling and gossiping, while Prince Ethan and Princess Poppy seemed confusing and were just eating their pancakes. Once she was satisfied with her observation, Vivienne looked back to the Selectors. Prince Noah seemed to be nursing a drink already while Liam looked at Princess Adelaide's empty chair. With that information being sorted into her mind, she pushed around the food on her plate and waited for the interview order for her half of the Selection.

What was it her mother had said about waiting? _Waiting is for beggars and the ugly_?Vivienne knew herself to be neither yet there she was with the rest of the stupid cows waiting to know who would speak with the Princes when. Luckily, the Princes hadn't waited long after the eliminations to say what everybody was wanting. Prince Noah went first and Vivi had to hide her hands because with each name that wasn't hers, Vivi squeezed her fist tighter. Vapid Cassiopeia with all of her sweetness would be first, something Vivi could have guessed. The idiot had captured the Prince's attention after the scene Halley made yesterday. Lasika, Emery (who Vivi believed was playing victim about being Selected), Reiza, and Devery would be the morning interviews. He said he would be taking lunch alone today and that the afternoon order would be Imogen, Theodora (almost a threat to her, though not much), Nyla, finally, finally her, and then Megara would be dining with him to end the interviews. Needing to plot and think over the airheads going before her, Vivienne hurried to her room as soon as breakfast was declared over.

In her room and thoughts, she mulled over those before her. Cassiopeia, Emery, and Theodora were the threats of the day. Reiza, Devery, and Imogen would most likely be eliminated as Vivienne knew what men like Prince Noah liked and the three of them didn't possess the spontaneity or sexuality to hold his attention. Imogen was a quiet mouse but he wouldn't eliminate more than three, especially after already sending three home. This Selection was unorthodox but surely he wouldn't be allowed to dip down to fourteen from twenty so quickly?

Frustrated with her pacing and thinking, Vivienne rang for her wretched maids. "Draw me a bath, one with lavender and other soothing stuff in it. I don't need to get wrinkles while waiting," she snapped at the idiotic trio. Vega and Lilian snapped to do their jobs but the dumb one, Rena or something, stood there watching her Lady. "Why are you just standing there?" she asked after the idjit hadn't moved in a few minutes.

Quietly, so much that she had to lean forward to hear, the girl asked, "Would the Lady like a drink as she bathes? I can go brew some tea or pull something if it pleases you." Confused but pleased to be treated like a queen, Vivienne nodded a yes and shooed the girl before heading to the warm water waiting on her. Hours later, the bath had been as pleasant as the mimosas the dumb maid kept flowing all morning. She relaxed into her chair as the maids worked on prepping her to perfection: Vega working serums and styling tools through her strawberry blonde hair, Lilian massaging oils and lotions onto her body, and Rena giving her a fresh mani pedi to match the white dress she had picked. It didn't take much longer for her makeup to be finished and outfit complete as Vivienne awaited the Prince.

Her interview, which ended up being pre dinner drinks on a balcony at sunset, was slightly boring. If it hadn't been for the free flowing alcohol she might have flung herself from the landing. Vivienne had tried everything she had been taught to do to draw his favor- compliment him, laugh at his (horrible) jokes, occasionally touch, find reasons to show off her body, tell him of all her connections to Very Important People. When none of that worked, she couldn't wait for him to escort her to the dining room for her meal. Still, she could hear her mother scolding her for not trying hard enough, so before he left, Vivi leaned into him and seductively whispered in his ear, "Why don't we have dinner in my room? I can think of a few things we could do while waiting for food."

Prince Noah chuckled at her request and when his arms wrapped around her, Vivi heard victory bells. Yet her body locked when he too whispered in her ear, only his was a disappointing, "Rules are rules, Lady Vivienne. I'll remember the offer, though."

"Shame," was all she replied as she twitched into the dining room with her crumbling dignity.

.o0*0o.

Liam had seen the second half of his girls that day: Petra, Valeria, Sabine, Faylinn, Annalee, Elsie for lunch, Lucia, Ariadne, Rowenia, and Annika for dinner.

The clock chimed a new hour and Liam watched as majority of the girls left their tables to head back to their rooms. Looking before him, Liam felt sorry for Noah's eliminations of the day. Imogen and Lasika seemed like nice girls. Then again, so did Petra, Rowenia, and Faylinn, who were his eliminations. Yet, watching the five sit quietly as he and Noah silently battled over who would announce their fate, Liam fet wrong whenever he looked at Faylinn sitting there. Sure, her interview had felt awkward and forced, not to mention that horrific ending, but something in his gut felt off.

Knowing Addie would have screamed at him for making a decision he wasn't sure of, Ethan called Faylinn over to him. The poor girl, who had changed out of the ruined white dress, gave him a tentative smile. He had seen earlier in the infirmary that she had discreet bandages placed on the smaller cuts and nude thread for any stitches. Still he offered her a chair versus making her stand on her injured legs and with a wry smile he realized she was wearing flats this time. Once seated, Faylinn launched into an apology he was sure she must have been working on since they're disastrous interview. She was scared and nervous when she finished, yet he could still tell their was something this enigma had not said. Offering a smile to her in return, Liam asked her, "Lady Faylinn, may I ask you a personal question?" The Lady nodded, but he changed what he was going to ask her. He had known some of the signs of an abused girl from one of Poppy's old maids yet he didn't want to embarrass her again. Trying to seem gentle, he instead asked her, "Why were you so opposed to going for a stroll in the gardens, Lady Faylinn? I saw how you walked in those torture devices called heels and you seemed fine."

Faylinn sucked in a breath like she had earlier before screaming, yet this time she replied to his question calmly. "Your Highness, this will sound incredibly petty but I simply felt jealous that I was one of many girls you took through the gardens." While she spoke the words Liam had been watching her face and for the briefest moment there looked to be a flash of guilt in her eyes. He of course didn't believe her for a minute, however, Liam also knew that she probably wouldn't open up to him like Elsie had earlier.

Sighing, Liam told her quietly, "Lady Faylinn, I'm afraid I've made a mistake. Will you please return to your room? I'll see you in the morning at breakfast." Faylinn looked like she was going to cry, yet she still nodded and made her way from the room. Liam went to sit down before Noah struck his arm out to block the way.

Noah gave him a grin and said, "You're the nice twin."

Liam was exhausted as he looked at the girl expectantly waiting. Not as nice as he had been yesterday night, Liam turned to the girls and said in his official voice, "Ladies, as you know, the Selection was created so that the Crown Prince, or in this cases, Princes, may find a wife from anywhere in the country. It is a serious process, something sometimes forgotten in all of the giggles and frills that come with it. Unfortunately, as I regret to have to tell you, this process must also be quick. I'm sorry but if you are sitting in this room, my brother or I did not feel a spark with you to keep you here. You'll have the rest of the night to pack, and in the morning a car will be here to drive you to an airport so that you may go home. Goodnight ladies, and I'm truly sorry."

Whatever reaction he had expected from his girls, Liam did not see. Petra was crying silently as she looked at him, as if that could change his mind. Rowenia seemed too shocked to say anything. It was from Noah's side that he found the reaction he had been expecting. Lasika was crying, no sobbing, as she begged Noah to give her another chance. Imogen was screaming and cursing his brother, leading to their guards escorting her forcibly from the room. When Liam looked to his brother, Noah had a tumblr of something in it. He found he couldn't care what as he drank it quick, ending with coughing fire out of his throat. Noah patted his back and told, "Good job, bud," as the coughs ended and he felt the bliss of alcohol numbing the cries.

 **.o0*0o.**

 **Hello, friends! Who besides Maxie was expecting an update anytime soon? Definitely not me.**

 **I'm sorry it took so long for me to finish the interviews. As any writer can tell you, interviews are usually one of the worst parts to write. You have to figure out how to balance them so that no interview seems like a copy of another, which is very very difficult. Yet, thanks to Maxie, I found the sudden inspiration to cut the interview numbers I was doing, change some of the girls, and my block was gone!**

 **I'm sorry to everybody who submitted a girl that was eliminated in this first cut. Scarlett, Juliette, Imogen, Lasika, Petra, and Rowenia were good characters, though I could not get enough of a vibe from them to see them going much farther in this story. I understand if you are mad that they were cut, but please do not yell and insult me in the reviews.**

 **Speaking of reviews, thank you to everybody who reviewed the last chapter!** alexandra . helene **,** UltimateMaxmericaShipper **,** Cookiedoodles16 **,** Pizzanna **,** morethanjustastory **,** Hofund **, and** Artemis' hunters **are super incredible to write their thoughts, which I do read every single time.**

 **To my new followers** alexandra . helene **,** obbsessedpleaseimdevoted **,** **and** stanford18 **and favoriters** Samantha E. Morgan **,** alexandra . helene **, and** standford18 **,** **welcome to my story! I usually update faster than this, I swear.**

 **Until the next chapter,**

 **xoxo**

 **fivesauce'n'YAbooks**


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